Recent polling by Ipsos and Politico Magazine shows a majority of U.S. adults in favor of putting Donald Trump on trial on his 2020 election-related criminal charges before this year’s presidential election, in which Trump is expected to be the Republican nominee.
The timing of the sought trial in that case remains unclear as appeals pend before the U.S. Supreme Court, which Trump is trying to convince that he holds wide-ranging legal protections by mere virtue of once serving as president that should stop the proceedings. The nation’s highest court was criticized after agreeing to hear further arguments around Trump’s appeals and thereby forcing even more of a delay before trial. Separately, the fact that the pending trial in Trump’s election-related case was put on hold amid his appeals undercuts his claim that political plots lie behind the court proceedings he is facing.
Asked if the trial in Trump’s election-related case should happen before the election this November, 59 percent of the Ipsos respondents answered affirmatively, with only 19 percent saying “no” and the remainder split between saying they were unsure or skipping the question.
Trump is accused of a series of criminal conspiracies inherent to his highly publicized targeting after the last election of its outcome, meaning the victory by Democratic candidate-turned-President Joe Biden. The legal protections that Trump claims to hold would broadly block criminal consequences for any or nearly any actions taken amid a president’s official responsibilities, and that’s where Trump has grouped what he was doing after the last presidential race, though carrying his evident ambitions out to the fullest extent would have undone the collective impact of tens of millions of Americans’ duly documented votes for president.
Trump characterizes his various courtroom challenges as election interference because of his ongoing campaign for president. Biden has secured the necessary level of support among Democrats to face Trump this year.
