Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leaves Manhattan Criminal Court after he was convicted in his criminal trial in New York,. May 30, 2024. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict on all 34 counts in his hush-money trial appears to have a majority of independents and “double haters,” those who have an unfavorable view of both Trump and President Joe Biden, feeling that the former president should end his bid for the White House, according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll — a number that could have a ripple effect on the election in November.
Among independents, 52% said they believed Trump should end his 2024 presidential campaign and within the even more specified group of “double haters,” 67% said they felt the same way, according to the ABC News/Ipsos poll published on Sunday. The poll was conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.
In an election year, the votes of independents as well as those aligned with neither candidate are highly sought after by both campaigns. The votes could make a significant impact on the 2024 presidential race that will likely be decided at the margins, especially within crucial battleground states.
Overall, 72% of Republicans, 6% of Democrats and 23% of independents have a favorable view of Trump following his conviction.
For Biden, 4% of Republicans have a favorable view of him after Trump’s conviction, while 72% of Democrats and 24% of independents do.
The poll also found that 50% of Americans think Trump’s verdict was correct; 27% said it was not and 23% responded that they don’t know.
Almost half — 49% — of the country said they think Trump should end his campaign based on just the verdict, the ABC News/Ipsos poll found. One in six Republicans — 16% — said Trump should end his campaign because of his conviction. More than three-quarters — 79% — of Democrats think he should suspend his bid, according to the poll.
Another poll from Reuters/Ipsos that came out Friday tracked the immediate political fallout of the verdict.
That poll found that more than half of registered voters said the verdict does not impact their likelihood of voting for Trump, but that around one in 10 Republican voters said it makes them much or somewhat less likely to vote for him.
Among independents, 16% said Trump’s guilty verdict makes them more likely to vote for him, but 26% said it made them less likely to vote for him. Fifty-eight percent said the conviction would not influence their likelihood of voting for Trump.
In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 11% of Republicans said that the conviction would make them less likely to vote for Trump.
METHODOLOGY
This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted using the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® May 31-June 1, 2024, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 781 U.S. adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.7 points, including the design effect, for the full sample. Sampling error is not the only source of differences in polls. Partisan divisions are 31-29-32 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents. See the poll’s topline results and details on the methodology here.
Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, May 30, 2024. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s campaign on Monday slammed former President Donald Trump for comments he made in a recent Fox News interview where he suggested there could be a “breaking point” for his supporters, saying the public would not “stand for” it if he was put under house arrest as a result of his conviction in his New York criminal trial.
While saying he’d be “OK” with possible house arrest or even jail time as a sentence, Trump said, “I don’t think the public would stand for it. I think it’d be tough for the public to take … At a certain point, there’s a breaking point.”
Biden’s campaign called Trump’s comments “vows of violence.”
“Consumed by his own rage and thirst for revenge, convicted felon Donald Trump is teeing up political violence, threatening the Constitution, and pitting Americans against one another,” Biden-Harris spokesperson James Singer wrote in a statement.
After the 2020 election, Trump promoted a rally in D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, saying it would be “wild.” The House Select Committee on Jan 6 concluded that Trump’s rhetoric in advance of the rally and on the day of the rally contributed to the storming of the Capitol that day.
The Trump campaign did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The Fox News interview over the weekend marked Trump’s first sit-down interview since he was found guilty in all 34 felony counts in the New York hush-money payments case last week. During the interview, Trump struggled to say whether he’d pursue revenge against his political opponents in his possible second administration, saying he wants to bring the country together, but also repeatedly calling his political opponents “evil people.”
“It’s a really tough question, in one way, because these are bad people — these people are sick and things that are so destructive,” Trump said, before eventually saying, “My revenge will be success, and I mean that.”
But he immediately added, “But it’s awfully hard when you see what they’ve done. These people are so evil. And at the same time, the country can come together.”
Trump has repeatedly played with the idea of “retribution” throughout his 2024 presidential campaign, at times suggesting he could go after his political opponents if he wins back the White House — stoking alarm among critics that a second Trump term could usher in a wave of authoritarian revenge. Other times, he has walked back on that sentiment, saying he’s “not going to have time for retribution” because his “ultimate retribution is success.”
Earlier this year, Trump faced backlash for downplaying, but not ruling out the possibility of political violence if he loses the November election.
“I think we’re gonna have a big victory and I think there will be no violence,” Trump told Time magazine in a cover story published in April.
Pressed by the interviewer, “What if you don’t win, sir?” Trump said, “If we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election.”
During his latest interview with Fox News, Trump repeatedly railed against his guilty verdict, complaining about the prosecution, the judge, the venue and even the jury — saying he had a jury that was from “a certain persuasion” and that it “would have been hard to [win] no matter what.”
Trump has previously been reprimanded by Judge Juan Merchan in the hush-money payment case for making similar comments about the jury — another possible violation of his gag order that bars him from commenting on the jury.
Reliving the moments when he heard his guilty verdict, Trump told Fox News he thought for a time that the trial was going to end with a hung jury.
“It looked like it was a hung jury for a while,” Trump said of the moment, saying it’s “the most you could hope for” as he appeared to complain about how it’s impossible for him to win “in the area.”
Trump also complained about his sentencing date being scheduled on July 11 — just four days before the Republican National Convention. Trump claimed the sentencing date was “part of the game,” even though it was Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche who advocated pushing the date to July while the judge suggested an earlier sentencing date. On social media on Sunday, Trump claimed the United States Supreme Court must weigh in on the sentencing date, saying the sentencing date is unfair.
Still, Trump touted his poll numbers and fundraising success following the guilty verdict, saying he has “set a record beyond all records” in fundraising. The Trump campaign said last week that it raised $53 million in the 24 hours following the verdict.
Former President Donald Trump attends UFC 302 at Prudential Center on June 1, 2024, in Newark, N.J. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — The Georgia Court of Appeals has tentatively scheduled oral arguments on former President Donald Trump’s appeal of the Fani Willis disqualification ruling for October, making it almost certain that Trump will not see trial in his Georgia election interference case before the 2024 election.
The date for oral arguments on the issue is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 4, according to a docket notice that was sent to defense counsel in the case.
“A calendar will be sent to counsel of record confirming the exact date of oral argument,” the notice says.
The appeals court agreed last month to take up Trump’s appeal.
Trump and his codefendants are appealing the ruling that allowed Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, to remain on the election case after it was discovered she had a romantic relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade. He resigned from the case as a result of the ruling.
The judge in the case, Scott McAfee, has previously vowed to keep the case moving forward while the issue is on appeal.
ABC News contributor and former Georgia prosecutor Chris Timmons said the October hearing date means it is all but certain that Trump won’t go to trial before the 2024 election.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
The former president has blasted the district attorney’s investigation as being politically motivated.
Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci testifies during a hearing before the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies of House Appropriations Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill May 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. — Alex Wong/Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Anthony Fauci is facing intense scrutiny from House Republicans at a hearing on Monday as lawmakers continue to scrutinize his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and examine theories of the origin of the virus.
Fauci previously proclaimed that he has “nothing to hide” and is coming before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic voluntarily. It marks the first time he’s publicly testified since he left the federal government at the end of 2022 after five decades of service.
Fauci’s appearance on Capitol Hill comes amid a contentious election cycle, with Republicans continuing to hammer him on his response to the virus — everything from mask mandates to vaccine guidelines and origin possibilities.
“Americans were aggressively bullied, shamed and silenced for merely questioning or debating issues such as social distancing, masks, vaccines or the origins of COVID,” chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said as the hearing kicked off. Wenstrup, who said he was seeking accountability in this hearing, accused Fauci of overseeing “one of the most invasive regimes of domestic policy the U.S. has ever seen.”
Fauci addressed those issues, and Republican attacks, in his opening statement, calling certain matters “seriously distorted.”
Fauci forcefully denied GOP accusations that he meddled in research about the pandemic’s origins, including claims that he tried to sway scientists away from concluding the virus came from a lab.
“The accusation being circulated that I influenced the scientists to change their minds by bribing them with millions of dollars in grant money is absolutely false, and simply preposterous,” he said.
“The second issue is a false accusation that I tried to cover up the possibility that the virus originated from a lab. In fact, the truth is exactly the opposite,” he added, proceeding to read an email in which he encouraged scientists to report their data to authorities.
Democrats, led by ranking member Raul Ruiz, sought to focus on moving forward — and accused Republicans of using Fauci as a scapegoat for mistakes made during the early days of the pandemic by former President Donald Trump.
“After 15 months, the select subcommittee does not possess a shred of evidence to substantiate these extreme allegations Republicans have levied against Dr. Fauci for nearly four years,” Ruiz said.
Tensions boiled over when Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Fauci’s most passionate detractors, said his license should be revoked and he should be imprisoned. She was stopped by chair Rep. Wenstrup, a fellow Republican, because of a lack of decorum. Democrats defended Fauci in the aftermath, with Rep. Robert Garcia calling Greene’s comments “completely irresponsible.”
The latest attack on Fauci comes from Republicans on the subcommittee who cite “new evidence” they say warrants further scrutiny: an email exchange between a former Fauci senior adviser and an executive of a virus research organization where the adviser claims Fauci’s private Gmail account could be utilized to evade Freedom of Information Act and future public scrutiny. Ahead of the hearing, Republicans requested access to Fauci’s personal email account and cellphone records.
Fauci denied suggestions he used his private email, and both denounced and distanced himself from the adviser’s actions.
“Let me state for the record that to the best of my knowledge I have never conducted official business via my personal email,” Fauci said.
Dr. David Morens, the Fauci aide, advised EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak that Fauci may accept printed copies of documents if Daszak didn’t want them tracked for the public record — although it’s not clear if Fauci ever had any involvement.
Records show that Morens himself used his private Gmail account to shield information from FOIA’s reach, including to send Daszak official government documents and a heads-up about information that would become public through a FOIA request pertaining to EcoHealth Alliance grant materials and COVID-19 research.
EcoHealth Alliance is a U.S.-based organization — described as a “virus-hunting group” — that conducts research and outreach programs and global health, conservation and international development, according to its website.
Republicans say the alliance facilitated gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, without proper oversight; willingly violated multiple requirements of its multi-million dollar National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant; and, apparently, made false statements to the NIH.
The House select subcommittee released a report alleging wrongdoing there and the formal debarment of EcoHealth and Daszak. Health and Human Services has subsequently suspended U.S. funding to the organization, which totaled about $2.6 million last year.
Morens testified behind closed doors for transcribed interviews before the subcommittee on Jan 18., and later produced an additional 30,000 pages of documents pursuant to a subpoena before testifying publicly on May 22.
Considering Morens was a close adviser to Fauci, Republicans on the subcommittee expressed concern that Fauci had knowledge of his conduct and questioned whether Fauci potentially engaged in any misconduct himself.
Fauci told lawmakers on Monday he “knew nothing” of Morens’ actions with Daszak or EcoHealth, and asserted Morens was not “an adviser to me on institute policy or other substantive issues.”
Fauci, 83, served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, serving as a scientific check to Trump during the pandemic and later as President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor before retiring in 2022.
Fauci previously spoke out about the death threats he received due to his outsized and public role from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, he said those threats continue and became emotional while answering questions about the impact on his family.
“It is very troublesome to me. It is much more troublesome because they’ve involved my wife and my three daughters,” he said, his voice beginning to waver.
“At this moment, how do you feel?” pushed Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on immigration as early as this week, according to sources familiar with the decision.
The long-awaited executive order would limit the number of migrants that would be allowed to claim asylum at the southern U.S. border. It would immediately send them back to Mexico to wait until the daily average goes down and, once it goes down, they would be able to claim asylum. The exact number that would trigger a pause on claiming asylum is still under deliberations, the sources said.
In recent days, members of Congress have been briefed on the executive action, according to sources familiar with the briefings.
Any executive order, administration officials caution, would be challenged in court.
“I anticipate that if the president would take executive action, and whatever that executive action would entail, it will be challenged in the court,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters last month at Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
Mayorkas and other members of the administration have urged Congress to pass the bipartisan border bill that was negotiated and proposed earlier this year.
A spokesperson for Brownsville, Texas, Mayor John Cowen confirmed to ABC News that the White House invited him to a meeting at the White House on Tuesday for an immigration-related announcement, and he will be attending.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser also confirmed he is attending. He told ABC News in a statement: “El Paso is a welcoming community, and that makes me very proud, but no community can continue the effort and resources we’ve expended on this humanitarian crisis endlessly. We are appreciative of the funding we have received from the federal government so that our efforts don’t fall on the backs of El Paso taxpayers, but our immigration system is broken, and it is critical that Congress work on a bipartisan long-term plan to work with other countries in order to create a more manageable, humane and sustainable immigration system for our country.
“I look forward to hearing more about the president’s plan on Tuesday, and we stand ready to work with our partners at the local, state and federal level on this effort,” he added.
ABC News’ Armando García contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) –ABC News has learned that New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez plans to file a petition by the end of the day Monday to get on the U.S. Senate ballot in the Garden State as an independent candidate.
The deadline to file signatures is 4 p.m. on Tuesday, which is also the date of New Jersey’s partisan primaries. Independent candidates need 800 signatures to get on the U.S. Senate general election ballot in New Jersey.
Menendez decided not to run in New Jersey’s Democratic Senate primary while under indictment. He said in March he wouldn’t seek another term as a Democrat but left open the possibility of running in November as an independent.
“I will not file for the Democratic primary this June,” he said in a video statement at the time. “I am hopeful that my exoneration will take place this summer and allow me to pursue my candidacy as an independent Democrat in the general election.”
ABC News reached out to Menendez’s campaign and office for comment.
In a statement to ABC News, Rep. Andy Kim, who is running in the Democratic Senate primary and entered the race last fall in response to Menendez’s indictment, wrote: “Americans are fed up with politicians putting their own personal benefit ahead of what’s right for the country. Everyone knows Bob Menendez isn’t running for the people of New Jersey, he’s doing it for himself. It’s beyond time for change and I’m stepping up to restore integrity back into the U.S. Senate.”
The New Jersey Globe was the first to report on Menendez’s plans.
Menendez’s corruption trial is currently underway. The New Jersey politician is accused of accepting cash, gold bars, luxury wristwatches and other perks from New Jersey businessmen in exchange for official favors to benefit the businessmen and the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
Menendez, 70, has denied all wrongdoing and called the prosecution “overzealous.”
Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci testifies during a hearing before the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies of House Appropriations Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill May 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. — Alex Wong/Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans are poised to grill Dr. Anthony Fauci at a hearing on Monday as lawmakers continue to scrutinize his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and examine theories of the origin of the virus.
Ahead of the hearing, House Republicans requested access to Fauci’s personal email account and cellphone records after obtaining information they claim calls into question whether the nation’s former top infectious disease expert may have tried to keep some records out of the public eye.
Fauci previously proclaimed that he has “nothing to hide” and is coming before the panel voluntarily. It will mark the first time he’s publicly testified since he left the federal government at the end of 2022 after five decades of service.
Fauci’s appearance on Capitol Hill comes amid a contentious election cycle, with Republicans continuing to hammer him on his response to the virus — everything from mask mandates to vaccine guidelines and origin possibilities.
Despite Fauci’s outsized and public role from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, former President Donald Trump, the Republican presumptive presidential nominee, is now contending Fauci “wasn’t a big player in my administration” as Fauci becomes a political lightning rod and a potential liability for Democrats ahead of this fall’s presidential contest.
The latest attack on Fauci comes from Republicans on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, who cite “new evidence” they say warrants further scrutiny: an email exchange between a former Fauci senior adviser and an executive of a virus research organization where the adviser claims Fauci’s private Gmail account could be utilized to evade Freedom of Information Act and future public scrutiny.
Dr. David Morens, the Fauci aide, advised EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak that Fauci may accept printed copies of documents if Daszak didn’t want them tracked for the public record — although it’s not clear if Fauci ever had any involvement.
Records show that Morens himself used his private Gmail account to shield information from FOIA’s reach, including to send Daszak official government documents and a heads-up about information that would become public through a FOIA request pertaining to EcoHealth Alliance grant materials and COVID-19 research.
EcoHealth Alliance is a U.S.-based organization — described as a “virus-hunting group” — that conducts research and outreach programs and global health, conservation and international development, according to its website.
Republicans say the alliance facilitated gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, without proper oversight; willingly violated multiple requirements of its multi-million dollar National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant; and, apparently, made false statements to the NIH.
The House select subcommittee released a report alleging wrongdoing there and the formal debarment of EcoHealth and Daszak. Health and Human Services has subsequently suspended U.S. funding to the organization, which totaled about $2.6 million last year.
Morens testified behind closed doors for transcribed interviews before the subcommittee on Jan 18., and later produced an additional 30,000 pages of documents pursuant to a subpoena before testifying publicly on May 22.
The panel subsequently released a staff memorandum it argues “presents overwhelming evidence” from Morens’s email revealing misconduct and potentially illegal actions. The memo included previously unreleased emails, obtained by subpoena, that Republicans believe incriminates Morens by showing he undermined the operations of the U.S. government, unlawfully deleted federal COVID-19 records and used personal email to avoid FOIA.
Considering Morens was a close adviser to Fauci, Republicans on the subcommittee expressed concern that Fauci had knowledge of his conduct and questioned whether Fauci potentially engaged in any misconduct himself.
The request pertaining to Fauci’s personal records specifies that the subcommittee is seeking access to all documents and communications related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, EcoHealth, and the origins of COVID-19 retained in Dr. Fauci’s personal email and cellphone records.
Fauci previously sat for closed-door, transcribed interviews with the panel for 14 hours on Jan. 8 and 9 — before the latest records from Morens were combed through by the panel.
Fauci served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, serving as a scientific check to Trump during the pandemic and later as President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor before retiring in 2022.
“Retirement from public service does not excuse Dr. Fauci from accountability to the American people,” chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, noted in a statement announcing the hearing. “On June 3, Americans will have an opportunity to hear directly from Dr. Fauci about his role in overseeing our nation’s pandemic response, shaping pandemic-era policies, and promoting singular, questionable narratives about the origins of COVID-19.”
Fauci, 83, is set to publish his memoir, entitled “ON CALL: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service,” on June 18. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush in 2008 for his work on AIDS relief in Africa.
In addition to hearing from Fauci, the Select Subcommittee announced former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky will publicly testify on June 13 as Republicans seek to learn about her knowledge of CDC policies and decisions during the pandemic.
Cheyenne Haslett and Lalee Ibsaa contributed to this report.
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said the United States expects that if Hamas agrees to a recent three-phase proposal from Israel to end fighting in Gaza, that Israel “would say yes.”
“It is an Israeli proposal, one that they arrived at after intense diplomacy with their own national security team and over at the State Department,” Kirby told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “Where we are right now is that proposal, an Israeli proposal, has been given to Hamas. It was done on Thursday night our time. We’re waiting for an official response from Hamas. We would note that publicly, Hamas officials came out and welcomed this proposal.”
“We have every expectation that if Hamas agrees to the proposal, as was transmitted to them an Israeli proposal, that Israel would say yes,” Kirby said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Will Scharf, a member of Donald Trump’s legal team, said Sunday that the former president will appeal his conviction on 34 felony counts in New York but will comply with a pre-sentencing investigation in the meantime.
Trump’s conviction, centered around allegations he covered up a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election, will be the subject of an investigation from the Probation Department, which will include interviewing Trump. A report following the inquiry’s conclusion will provide Judge Juan Merchan with a sentencing recommendation, experts have told ABC News.
“The president’s going to cooperate with the pre-sentence investigation. And we’re going to speedily appeal this unjust verdict. I think this case is replete with reversible error. We plan to vigorously defend President Trump’s rights in the appellate courts all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary,” Scharf told ABC’s “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A plurality of Americans, 50%, think former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict on all 34 counts in his hush money trial was correct, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds, and almost as many, 49%, think he should end his 2024 presidential campaign over the result.
Still, following the historic criminal trial that ended this week in a first-ever conviction of a former president, Trump’s favorability has remained stable at 31%, according to the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel. Trump was found guilty of 34 counts on Thursday in his trial related to falsifying business records regarding a payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election in order to keep her quiet about their alleged affair.
The former president has vowed to appeal, saying on Friday that “bad people” had levied the case – and charges– against him.
Forty-seven percent of Americans said they think the charges against Trump in this case were politically motivated, while 38% say they were not. At the same time, the slight majority at 51%, think Trump intentionally did something illegal in this case. Twelve percent think Trump did something wrong but not intentionally, and 19% believe he did not do anything wrong.
The proportion of Americans who say Trump should end his presidential campaign as a result of this verdict is 49%, which is similar to findings from an April 2023 ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted shortly after the Manhattan grand jury handed down the indictment against him in this case. In the April 2023 polls, 48% thought he should suspend his campaign because of the indictment.
Biden’s favorability rating also remains low and unchanged, according to the new ABC News/Ipsos poll. His favorability rating currently stands at 32% compared to 33% in an ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in March 2024. Public reaction to Trump’s guilty verdict falls along partisan lines. For example, 83% of Democrats think the verdict was correct and 79% think he should end his campaign as a result, while only 16% of Republicans say the verdict was correct and the same percentage say he should end his presidential bid.
Because both Biden and Trump are broadly viewed unfavorably, the election could come down to independent voters, or even more specifically, those who dislike both candidates – sometimes referred to as double-haters.
A majority of Independents think Trump’s verdict was correct, 52%, and the same amount believe that he should end his candidacy. For double-haters, those reactions are even more pronounced — 65% of Americans who view both Trump and Biden unfavorably think the verdict this week was correct, with 67% believing Trump should end his presidential campaign.
Forty-five percent of Independents and 51% of double-haters think the hush-money trial was politically motivated, compared to 83% of Republicans and 20% of Democrats.
In the New York trial, Trump’s attacks are largely directed at the district attorney, the judge and the jury — all of which he’s claimed are unfairly politically biased against him. Trump has also come after President Biden, claiming without evidence, that he was behind the prosecution.
“If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone,” Trump said during a press conference at Trump Tower in Manhattan. “These are bad people. These are, in many cases, I believe, sick people.” Biden, in his own remarks later on Friday, pushed back that the rule of law was “reaffirmed” and statements questioning the legitimacy of the process were “dangerous.”
METHODOLOGY
This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted using the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® May 31-June 1, 2024, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 781 U.S. adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.7 points, including the design effect, for the full sample. Sampling error is not the only source of differences in polls. Partisan divisions are 31-29-32 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents. See the poll’s topline results and details on the methodology here.
ABC News’ Dan Merkle and Ken Goldstein contributed to this report.
