NEWSWEEK
Over 60 percent of voters believe Donald Trump has “committed a crime” amid his four indictments, according to a new Navigator poll that was published on Friday.
The former president was indicted earlier this month on four criminal counts in the Department of Justice‘s (DOJ) probe headed by special counsel Jack Smith in relation to accusations that he attempted to subvert American democracy by trying to overturn the results of 2020 presidential election. Smith also led the investigation that resulted in Trump being charged with 40 criminal counts related to accusations that he took sensitive government records with him to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence, after leaving the White House and conspired to obstruct government efforts to retrieve them.
Trump faces additional trials in New York and Georgia. In New York, he has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to payments made to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, as reimbursement for a hush money payoff to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. Daniels alleged that she had an affair with Trump in 2006, an allegation that Trump has denied.
In Georgia, Trump is facing 13 criminal counts related to accusations that he illegally sought to subvert the 2020 election results in the state. Trump was booked at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Thursday night on the charges, where he became the first former president in United States history to have his mug shot taken. Meanwhile, Trump has plead not guilty to all the cases and maintains his innocence as he continues to run for president again in 2024.
Meanwhile, the Navigator poll shows that 62 percent of voters overall believe Trump committed a crime while 42 percent said they think he will be convicted of any of the crimes of which he is accused of. Independents also dealt Trump a blow, with 67 percent saying he committed a crime.
Overwhelmingly, 92 percent of Democrats also think Trump committed a crime compared to 28 percent of Republicans. For those who think the former president did not commit a crime, 5 percent of Democrats said he did not compared to 61 percent of Republicans. The poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters from August 17-21. The margin of error is not immediately known.
Political analyst Craig Agranoff told Newsweek on Saturday, “If the number of Americans who believe he [Trump] committed a crime continues to grow, it could make it more challenging for him to win over independent voters. This could hurt his chances of winning the general election. It should also be noted that in addition to the polls, there are other signs that his legal troubles could hurt him politically. For example, he might struggle to raise new money for his campaign and attracting top talent to his team.”
He added that the former president “will need to win over a significant number of independent voters in order to win the general election.”
“His base of support among Republican voters is strong, but it is not enough to win a national election,” Agranoff said.
Meanwhile, when speaking on Fox News‘s The Five on Friday, contributor and political analyst Jessica Tarlov mentioned the Navigator poll, saying that it “shoots straight through the argument that this is a two-tiered system of justice.” Trump’s allies have previously argued that he is a victim of a two-tier justice system amid his indictments.
