Nearly 80 percent of Americans feel that if former President Donald Trump is convicted in the U.S. Justice Department's 2020 election subversion case against him, he should face some form of punishment, a new poll released on Friday found.
The poll from Politico Magazine/Ipsos found that 50 percent of respondents said Trump should be imprisoned if he's found guilty. Sixteen percent said he should receive probation but not imprisonment, and 12 percent answered that he should face a "financial penalty only." According to the poll results, 18 percent said the former president should face no punishment if convicted.
Ipsos conducted the poll from August 18-21. Republicans, Democrats and independents were among the 1,032 respondents who were asked about the criminal cases against Trump. The former president has been indicted four times this year, and he has denied any wrongdoing in all cases.
Trump was indicted this month on four criminal counts in the federal probe headed by special counsel Jack Smith in relation to accusations that he attempted to subvert American democracy by trying to overturn the results of 2020 presidential election.
Smith also led the investigation that resulted in Trump being charged with 40 criminal counts related to accusations that he took sensitive government records with him after leaving the White House and conspired to obstruct government efforts to retrieve them.
Trump faces additional trials in New York and Georgia. In New York, he has been has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to payments made to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, as reimbursement for a hush money payoff to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.
In Georgia, Trump is facing 13 criminal counts related to accusations that he illegally sought to subvert the 2020 presidential election results in the state. Trump was booked at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Thursday night on the state charges, where he became the first former president in history to have his mug shot taken.
Newsweek reached out to a representative for Trump for comment.
Regarding the federal election subversion case against Trump, 53 percent of Republican respondents in the new poll said he should face some form of punishment if he is found guilty in the DOJ election case. Ninety-seven percent of Democrats said he should be punished if found guilty.
The poll also found that a slight majority of all Americans said they believe Trump is guilty in both of the federal criminal cases against him. Fifty-two percent said they believe he is guilty of the alleged crimes in the sensitive documents case, while 51 percent said they believe Trump is guilty of the alleged crimes in the federal 2020 election subversion case.
Fifty-one percent said they believe Trump is guilty of the alleged crimes in the Georgia election subversion case, and 48 percent said he is guilty of the alleged crimes in the falsifying business records case in New York.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
