New polling from Ipsos and Politico Magazine shows an overwhelming majority of the United States rejecting the idea that a president should hold legal protections from the possibility of prosecution for actions amid their tenure. The polling was undertaken among adults generally and was completed on March 10.
Ex-President Donald Trump and his team have been making that argument in court, claiming absolute or nearly absolute immunity for Trump’s time as president and attempting to use that argument to get a federal court to shut down the Justice Department’s criminal case accusing Trump of attempted election interference. Trump’s appeals making these arguments are currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, which drew criticism for agreeing to hear further arguments at all considering it puts Trump’s anticipated but already delayed trial in this case on hold again.
Trump has argued publicly that the kind of legal immunity that he’s claiming is necessary for the effective functioning of the presidency. Americans don’t buy it.
Poll respondents were asked if they “believe U.S. presidents should be immune for criminal prosecution for alleged crimes that occurred while in office.” Seventy percent answered “no,” while only 11 percent from the overall group replied in the affirmative. Among independents, three-fourths said “no.” Twenty-four percent of Republicans backed the idea, some likely specifically aware that Trump has been using the argument in court as he’s locked down the Republican Party’s expected nomination for president this year. Though there technically was a primary, it never amounted to much in terms of actual inroads against Trump.
Trump is basing a large part of his currently unfolding campaign for president on grievances drawn from his many courtroom hurdles. He claims the cases against him to represent “election interference” because of his ongoing campaign and deems the proceedings emblematic somehow of societal decline.
