A small majority of Americans approve of the decision of the Manhattan grand jury to indict former US President Donald Trump, but views differ on the motivation for this decision, according to a public opinion poll published by the Morning Consult service.
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According to the results of the study, the majority of respondents (51%) support the idea of indicting Trump, while 38% hold the opposite view. At the same time, the vast majority of respondents who sympathize with the US Republican Party said they oppose such a move.
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At the same time, there is no unity regarding the motivation behind the accusations against Trump in the opinions of the study participants. Thus, 46% of Americans believe that the crimes attributed to Trump served as the basis for the charges, while 43% believe that the real reason for the charges is the desire to harm his political career. The remaining 11% of respondents found it difficult to express their opinion on this matter. In the ranks of respondents sympathetic to the Democrats, the situation is just unambiguous – 78% of them believe that the accusations against Trump are based on a desire to spoil his political future, and only 13% believe that the reason lies in his violation of US laws.
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The study was conducted on March 31 among 2034 registered participants. The sample is representative. The poll error is about 2 percentage points.
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Earlier it became known that a grand jury in New York voted to indict Trump. According to CNN sources, the Manhattan prosecutor’s office accuses the former US president of more than 30 counts of business fraud. Officially, the charges will be announced only when Trump appears in court, but it is assumed that this is the case of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels – she was allegedly paid a large sum for silence about the alleged affair with Trump. The ex-president has previously denied both the connection with Daniels and any illegal actions on his part. Trump has also said that the persecution is purely political and linked to his intention to run for president in 2024. Commenting on the allegations against him by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Trump said he could not count on a fair trial in New York.
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Trump’s arrival in court is expected on April 4. As the politician’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said earlier, during his appearance, the former US president intends to declare his innocence.
