The majority of independents believe that Donald Trump benefited from a “fair trial” (survey)

Most independents say former President Trump received a fair trial in New York’s hush money criminal case, according to a new poll taken days after he was convicted on 34 counts charged with falsifying business records to conceal potentially damaging information before the 2016 presidential election.

In a CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday, 54 percent of independents believe Trump received a fair trial, while 46 percent of independents believe he was unfair. They were asked to rate the fairness of the trial, “regardless of what you think of the verdict.”

Overall, most American adults (56%) believe Trump received a fair trial, while 44% say he did not.

As for whether the jury reached the right or wrong verdict in convicting Trump, the answers are similar: 57% of American adults say the jury reached the right verdict, and 43% say the wrong verdict. Among independents, 56 percent say the jury reached the right verdict, while 44 percent say it was the wrong verdict.

There is a significant partisan divide in the responses. Nearly all Democrats (96%) say Trump had a fair trial and the jury made the right decision, with only 4% calling the trial unfair and the verdict wrong.

Republicans are slightly more likely to call the trial unfair (86%) than to call the verdict wrong (82%). Only 14 percent believe the trial was fair and 18 percent believe the verdict was fair.

The poll comes as the Republican establishment railed against the verdict and called the trial unfair and politically motivated, taking cues from the former president himself.

On Friday, Trump delivered his strongest condemnation of the trial judge, Judge Juan Merchan, calling him a “devil” and calling the trial “rigged” and a “scam.” The remarks followed a fundraising appeal launched shortly after the verdict, in which the former president called himself a “political prisoner.”

The CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted from May 30 to June 1, after the conclusion of Trump’s trial, and included 989 American adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.