47% believe the accusations against Trump were politically motivated.
A majority of Americans, 50 percent, think former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict on all 34 counts in his secret trial was correct, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, and almost as many, 49 %, think he should end his mandate in 2024. presidential campaign on the result.
Yet after the historic criminal trial that ended this week with the first-ever conviction of a former president, Trump’s popularity remained steady at 31 percent, according to the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted using the Ipsos KnowledgePanel. Trump was convicted Thursday of 34 counts in his trial related to falsifying business records regarding a payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to silence her over their alleged connection.
The former president vowed to appeal, saying Friday that “bad people” had filed complaints — and filed complaints — against him.
Forty-seven percent of Americans said they believe the charges against Trump in this case were politically motivated, while 38% say the opposite. At the same time, a slight majority (51%) thinks Trump intentionally did something illegal in this matter. Twelve percent think Trump did something wrong, but not intentionally, and 19 percent think he did nothing wrong.
The proportion of Americans who believe Trump should end his presidential campaign following this verdict is 49%, similar to the results of an April 2023 ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted shortly after that the Manhattan grand jury returned the indictment against him in 2023. this case. In April 2023 polls, 48% thought he should suspend his campaign because of this indictment.
Biden’s approval rating also remains low and unchanged, according to the new ABC News/Ipsos poll. His approval rating currently stands at 32%, compared to 33% in an ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in March 2024. The public reaction to Trump’s guilty verdict is part of a partisan logic. For example, 83% of Democrats believe the verdict was correct and 79% believe he should end his campaign as a result, while only 16% of Republicans believe the verdict was correct and the same percentage believe he should end his presidential candidacy.
Because Biden and Trump are widely viewed unfavorably, the election could come down to independent voters, or even more accurately, those who dislike both candidates — sometimes referred to as double haters.
A majority of independents think Trump’s verdict was correct, 52%, and an equal number think he should end his candidacy. For double haters, these reactions are even more pronounced: 65% of Americans who view Trump and Biden unfavorably think this week’s verdict was correct, and 67% think Trump should end his presidential campaign.
Forty-five percent of independents and 51 percent of double haters believe the secret trial was politically motivated, compared to 83 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of Democrats.
At the New York trial, Trump’s attacks are largely directed at the prosecutor, judge and jury — all of whom he says are unfairly politically biased against him. Trump also came after President Biden, claiming without evidence that he was behind the lawsuits.
“If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone,” Trump said during a news conference at Trump Tower in Manhattan. “They are bad people. They are, in many cases, I believe, sick people.” Biden, in his own remarks later Friday, countered that the rule of law was being “reaffirmed” and that statements questioning the legitimacy of the process were “dangerous.”
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ABC News’ Dan Merkle and Ken Goldstein contributed to this report.