A big majority of Americans in a recent survey reject the legal argument put forward by former President Trump that presidents should be protected from being prosecuted for alleged crimes committed while in office.
The POLITICO Magazine/Ipsos survey, released on Monday, revealed that 70% of participants reject this argument, while only 11% believe presidents should be immune from criminal prosecution. Another 18% are unsure.
The presidential immunity argument did not carry much weight when viewed by partisan association, as per the pollsters.
The majority of Republicans, 48%, believe that presidents should not have immunity, while only 24% disagree. Twenty-seven percent of Republicans surveyed are unsure.
The presidential immunity argument was strongly opposed by Democrats (92%) and independents (75%), while only 3% of Democrats and 8% of independents believe presidents should be immune from criminal prosecution for actions taken while in office.
The survey was conducted after the Supreme Court decided recently decided to hear Trump’s presidential immunity claim in special counsel Jack Smith’s case alleging the former president conspired to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The Supreme Court’s order established an expedited schedule, setting up oral arguments during the week of April 22 and likely enabling the landmark decision to be handed down by the end of June or sooner. The order last month marked the first time that the Supreme Court, which includes three Trump appointees, agreed to take up any of the former president’s criminal cases.
If the conservative-majority court ultimately rules against Trump, as predicted by many legal experts, it would then allow Smith’s prosecution to proceed, giving the judge the opportunity to still schedule the trial before November’s election. The case is currently on hold, after originally being scheduled to start earlier this month.
Trump’s legal team is specifically arguing that the federal election subversion indictment should be dismissed because the former president has absolute presidential immunity from criminal prosecution. Trump has made similar arguments in his Georgia election interference and classified documents cases. He has pleaded not guilty in all these cases.
The presidential immunity argument has been rejected by both Trump’s trial judge and a three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant,” the D.C. Circuit panel stated in its 57-page decision earlier this month.
“We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter,” the decision continued. “Careful evaluation of these concerns leads us to conclude that there is no functional justification for immunizing former Presidents from federal prosecution in general or for immunizing former President Trump from the specific charges in the Indictment.”
The Politico poll took place from March 8 to 10 and involved 1,024 U.S. adults, who were surveyed online. The margin of error for all participants was 3.3 percentage points.
