Facing an unprecedented fourth set of criminal charges, an even half of the country believes that former President Donald Trump should suspend his ongoing campaign for president, per new polling from ABC News and Ipsos. The polling was completed August 16 and was undertaken among adults in general, not just voters.
Only 33 percent of respondents assertively stated that Trump should not drop out, while a remaining 17 percent said they weren’t sure. Numbers have been roughly similar after earlier indictments of the former president, with solid portions asserting that Trump should drop out of the 2024 race for president. Trump’s characteristic claims that he has been outperforming his major rivals in both the primary and general contests for next year’s presidential face-off are incorrect. Polling shows him close to Biden for the general election being held next November.
Similarly, a near-majority (49 percent) said in this new polling that they believe Trump should, in fact, have been charged with criminal activity in his most recent case, which emerged in Georgia and relates to attempts by the former president and allies of his to upend the 2020 election results there. Trump and 18 other individuals were charged with involvement in an alleged criminal conspiracy ranging in substance from pressure on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to clamoring for a sham slate of electors from the state and targeting past election workers.
Notably, 20 percent of Republicans agreed in this recent survey that Trump should suspend his 2024 campaign, though he remains the front-runner in the GOP presidential primary. He’s skipping the first debate in that contest this week. No other candidate comes close to Trump in most GOP primary polling, though some others in the contest may be hoping he’s somehow incapacitated in relation to his dozens of accusations of criminality. Trump’s continued claims that he was the victim of widespread election fraud in 2020 could spur Republican voters to sit out the balloting process altogether, some have speculated.
