Poll: Majority of Americans Want Trump Trial Before the 2024 Election
And 51% of independents believe that the former president should serve a prison sentence if convicted.
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| Trump 2024 |
An overwhelming majority of Americans — including nearly two-thirds of independents — want former President Donald Trump to stand trial in a 2020 election case that the Justice Department filed ahead of the 2024 election.
A Politico/Ipsos poll polled 1,032 Democratic, Republican, and independent adults between August 18 and 21, just under three weeks after special counsel Jack Smith indicted the former president in a criminal investigation into Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The poll, released on Friday, was conducted just days after Fulton County Attorney General Fannie Willis charged Trump and 18 others with election interference in Georgia.
The results show a significant rise in seeing Trump stand trial before the 2024 election, demonstrating the gravity and scale of the latest charges and complicating the former president's pressing claims that criminal indictments only serve to advance his political prospects. In June, a Politico/Ipsos poll asked a similar question about scheduling after the Trump classified documents indictment in Florida, and less than half of independents said they wanted to see a trial before the election.
On Monday, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan will hold a hearing on the federal case. Smith's office is requesting a trial date for January 2, 2024, while Trump's lawyers are requesting a trial date for 2026. If Trump gets a post-election trial date and wins the presidential election, he will have the opportunity to pardon himself within two years. Department of Justice issue (though not in Georgia).
The poll also provides a window into how Trump's reaction to the various indictments he has leveled against him may - or may not - resonate with voters. Despite the former president's cries about "corruption" in the cases against him, more respondents said they believed Trump had used the legal system as a weapon than President Joe Biden.
More than half of respondents — including 56% of independents — said the Trump Justice Department improperly investigated political opponents. When asked about the conduct of various players in criminal cases, respondents gave Trump the worst favorable rating of all: a net negative of 31 points. The Justice Department and Smith came away with net positive ratings, while Attorney General Merrick Garland had an even split.
In addition, the survey also shows a marked lack of public knowledge about the issue, with roughly a quarter to a third of the survey respondents reporting that they do not understand the accusations well. As cases emerge and new information becomes available, Trump's numbers could grow exponentially.
As for what voters want the outcome of the cases to be, half of the respondents said they believed Trump should go to jail if convicted in the Jan. 6 case brought by the Justice Department. This number included 51 percent of the independents.
