Majority of Americans approve of Trump charges, few think conviction is likely

On Tuesday, former President Donald J Trump was arrested in his home town of New York City and then charged with 34 felony counts for falsifying business records about a series of payments made by his then lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film star, Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Trump then reimbursed Mr. Cohen saying that the payments were for his business when they were not, a crime in New York State. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.

YouGov conducted a poll in the hours after the arrest and found that more Americans strongly or somewhat approve (56%) than strongly or somewhat disapprove (31%) of the charges against the former President. Democrats, unsurprisingly overwhelming approve of the charges (84% approve; 9% disapprove), Republicans, also unsurprisingly, are more likely disapprove-though by a much smaller margin (32% approve; 61% disapprove).

That polling was only for the charges, when it comes to the question of conviction, there is much less censuses: 14% say a conviction is very likely, 25% say it somewhat likely, 22% say it is not very likely and 23% say it is not likely at a all. Democrats are nearly twice as likely (58%) to say it is very or somewhat likely that Trump will be convicted as Republicans (26%).

Americans are as likely to say the charges make a stronger candidate in the 2024 Presidential race (32%) as they are to say it will make him weaker candidate (29%). Mr. Trump announced his run for re-election earlier. 21% say the charges make no difference to his strength as a candidate, while Democrats are more likely to say (40%) it makes him a weaker candidate, than Republicans (17%). On the question of if it makes him a stronger candidate, that also falls along party lines with 18% of Democrats vs 58% of Republicans saying it will.

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