A Big Majority Says Presidents Should Be Able To Face Charges For Actions Taken In Office

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In recent polling from frequent partners The Economist and YouGov, a large majority of the U.S. said that presidents should not have sweeping legal immunity for actions taken while in office. Former President Donald Trump is trying to argue for such a thing, claiming in court that presidents hold wide-ranging legal immunity that supposedly should shut down a key criminal case that he is facing.

The case, in which those immunity disputes already reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where a decision remains forthcoming, accuses Trump of conspiring against the 2020 presidential election outcome, meaning Biden’s win. Trump claims, in turn, that what he was doing was actually in line with his official duties as president and advanced the interests of the American people in going after supposed systematic fraud. However, taking his evident ambitions to their endpoint would have undone the collective impact of, in reality, tens of millions of duly documented votes for president.

As long as the Supreme Court holds out on issuing their immunity decision, trial in the Trump case remains up in the air, though at this point, the court’s decision simply has to come sooner than later because of the scheduling of its release of decisions.

“In your opinion, should presidents have legal immunity protecting them from being charged for any actions they have taken as President?” poll respondents were asked. Among general respondents, 62 percent answered in the negative, while only 17 percent backed the idea, suggesting that Trump’s public claims of immunity aren’t exactly poised to majorly boost him in this year’s ongoing race for president.