A redacted FBI photograph of documents and classified cover sheets recovered from a container stored in former US president Donald Trump's Florida estate, and which was included in a US Department of Justice filing and released on August 30, 2022. US Department of Justice/Handout via REUTERS
Washington: Former President Donald Trump should be prosecuted over his handling of classified documents after his departure from the White House, according to half of Americans, a Quinnipiac University poll shows.
As details are released about the FBI’s recovery of material from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the poll found 50% of those surveyed say Trump should face criminal charges, while 41% do not.
Among Republicans, fewer than 10% say Trump should be charged. But 85% of Democrats and 52% of independent voters say he should, according to the survey of 1,584 US adults conducted between August 25 and August 29. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus-2.5 percentage points.
The survey was conducted before the Justice Department’s latest assertions in court filings that there was evidence of attempts to conceal the White House records held in a storage room at Mar-a-Lago before the June FBI search.
"Americans have been watching closely and have their own verdict: Former President Trump’s alleged hoarding of classified documents was very serious, very wrong, and half of Americans believe it was a criminal act,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement.
More than three-quarters of those surveyed, or 76%, said they were following the news about the removal of the classified documents from Trump’s home, with 38% saying very closely and 38% saying somewhat closely.
The poll more broadly found 56% of Americans have an unfavourable opinion of Trump, while 34% have a favourable opinion of him. This compares to July when 55% had an unfavourable opinion of the former president and 37% had a favourable opinion.
