A slim majority of Americans surveyed in a poll released Friday would support pardoning former President Trump if he is convicted and sentenced to jail over allegations that he mishandled classified documents.
The Harvard CAPS-Harris poll found 53 percent of total respondents — 80 percent of Republicans and 30 percent of Democrats — would support a pardon, showing a large partisan divide in opinion.
Among political independents, 52 percent said Trump should not be pardoned.
Trump was indicted on 37 felony charges related to the mishandling of classified documents — many in violation of the Espionage Act — and was arraigned at a Miami court on Tuesday. It is alleged that Trump took the documents with him from the White House and kept them at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office, as well as misled investigators when they requested the documents.
But to be pardoned, Trump would first have to be convicted. That is an outcome that a majority of Americans also think will be unlikely, the poll found.
Only 43 percent of respondents — 18 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of Democrats — said Trump is likely to be convicted.
However, exactly half of respondents said that he should drop out of the 2024 race because of the charges, with a conviction or not. The most recent polling shows Trump still in the lead for the 2024 GOP nomination, making a rematch between him and President Biden likely.
The survey was conducted between June 14-15 among 2,090 registered voters — with no margin of error provided.
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