Trump Just Got HUGE News On His Prison Sentence
A recent poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that Americans are divided over whether former President Donald Trump should be incarcerated following his recent conviction on charges related to hush money.
48% of Americans believe that the former president and presumed Republican nominee should be incarcerated, while 50% disagree. Among Democrats, about 80% think Trump should be imprisoned, but independents are split: 49% believe he should be, while 46% disagree.
Most Republicans feel that Trump was treated unfairly by the court system and oppose his incarceration. Conversely, Democrats largely believe that Trump was treated fairly by the prosecution, judge, and jury.
The results highlight the political divide in opinions regarding the case, which is the first filed against a sitting or former U.S. president. Both Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden have used the trial in their campaign strategies. Biden often emphasizes that Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a felony, while Trump claims that Democrats orchestrated the case against him for political reasons.
Trump's sentencing was postponed from Thursday, three days before the Republican National Convention, to September at the earliest, when early voting will already be underway in several states.
“I thought it was all a sham to begin with,” said Dolores Mejia, a 74-year-old Republican from Peoria, Arizona, who has been closely following the trial. “I wasn’t surprised he got convicted because the court was in New York, a very blue state. … It seemed like it was thoroughly stacked against him.”
A minority of Republicans hold a different view from the majority in their party. According to the study, 14% of Republicans support Trump’s conviction, while 12% think he should be incarcerated.
“I knew he had a big ego and questionable values when I voted for him the first time in 2016, but I thought the mantle of the presidency would be a humbling experience for him, and I was wrong,” said Leigh Gerstenberger, a Pennsylvania Republican who agrees with the jury’s finding in the New York case and believes Trump should spend at least some time behind bars.
“I could not be more disappointed in his conduct both in office and out of office,” the 71-year-old retiree said. “There are plenty of Americans who have spent time behind bars for lesser offenses. President Trump should not be treated any differently.”
About 40% of American adults express high confidence in the fair treatment of Trump by the jury, judge, or prosecutors. Approximately 46% support the conviction in the case, consistent with an AP-NORC poll from June. Around 30% oppose it, and 25% remain neutral.
While some Americans do not support imprisoning Trump, they do not agree with his claims of being treated unjustly by the legal system.
Christopher Smith, a 43-year-old independent from Tennessee, believes that the specific conduct does not warrant a prison sentence. “I don’t think the particular crime deserves time,” Smith said, clarifying that imprisonment should be for offenses where the guilty individual directly harms another person.
The survey revealed that Americans are less polarized on another recent high-profile incident. Last month, Hunter Biden, the son of President Biden, was found guilty of three felonies in federal court for providing false information about drug use while acquiring a firearm. A majority of U.S. adults, about 60%, support Hunter Biden's conviction, with little variation based on political affiliation: roughly 60% of Democrats and around 70% of Republicans support it.
Approximately 60% of American adults advocate for a prison sentence for Hunter Biden due to his conviction, with Republicans somewhat more inclined than Democrats to support incarceration.