WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Americans are deeply divided along party lines in their views of President Donald Trump's actions in the most recent criminal cases brought against him, a new poll shows, with about half saying his alleged attempt to interfere in Georgia's 2020 vote count was illegal.
The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted before Monday's charges in the Georgia case, also shows that about half of Americans 鈥 53% 鈥 approve of the Justice Department indicting Trump over his efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election.
The poll finds 85% of Democrats approve of the , compared with 47% of independents and just 16% of Republicans. Overall, 3 in 10 Americans disapprove, including about two-thirds of Republicans.
The survey suggests that the unprecedented indictments of a former president have done little to shake up a fundamental divide in the electorate: The majority of Americans disapprove of Trump, but he remains popular within the GOP.
Overall, 35% of Americans have a favorable view of Trump and 62% unfavorable. Among Republicans, though, seven in 10 view the former president favorably, and .
The poll was conducted Aug. 10-14 , before Trump and 18 of his allies were indicted Monday in Georgia over their efforts to overturn the state鈥檚 election results but with strong indications that charges were imminent. At the time of the survey, 51% of U.S. adults believed Trump acted illegally in that case, including 16% of Republicans. That鈥檚 consistent with an AP-NORC poll conducted in June.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and says the charges against him are politically motivated as he seeks a rematch against Democratic President .
Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults 鈥 17% 鈥 say they have 鈥渁 great deal鈥 of confidence in the people running the Justice Department. The low level of confidence spans the political spectrum, with just 26% of Democrats, 14% of independents and 7% of Republicans saying they have a great deal of confidence in the federal law enforcement agency. About half of Americans have 鈥渙nly some鈥 confidence in DOJ, while about a third have 鈥渉ardly any confidence at all.鈥 Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to have hardly any confidence in the Justice Department, 48% to 18%.
鈥淭rump is obviously running for president and the sitting administration is pushing to have their political rival arrested and put in jail,鈥 said Cary Arnold, a 56-year-old Republican from Eldersburg, Maryland. 鈥淛ust on the surface that鈥檚 a very, very bad look. That鈥檚 something that you would expect to see in third world countries that are run by dictators.鈥
Trump鈥檚 actions did not cross the line to merit criminal charges, he said.
鈥淚 have not seen anything that seemed to be illegal,鈥 Arnold said. 鈥淚 know people have said that he did things illegally, but none of the things that they鈥檝e said make any sense.鈥
Trump has been indicted four times since April, but Americans do not view the indictments equally.
While about half believe Trump did something illegal when it comes to the and the Georgia charges, along with the case involving classified documents found at his home in Florida, only about one-third say Trump acted illegally in allegedly covering up hush money payments to a woman who said he had an affair with her. That was the basis for charges Trump faces in New York City brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Overall, Americans say that Trump鈥檚 actions after the 2020 presidential election did more to threaten democracy than to defend it, 54% to 19%. One-quarter of U.S. adults say he did neither. Republicans are split on the impact of Trump鈥檚 decisions: 43% say he defended democracy, while 23% say he threatened it. About a third of Republicans say he neither defended nor threatened democracy.
鈥淭rump and a lot of his supporters are saying, 鈥楾hey鈥檙e just using this to get at him in the election,鈥欌 said David Biggar, a 60-year-old Republican from Navarre, Florida who twice voted against Trump. 鈥淚 think he鈥檚 being targeted because he did stuff that he needs to be tried for.鈥
Americans largely disagree with Trump鈥檚 contention that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Seven in 10 say that Biden was legitimately elected president, a number that鈥檚 been consistent in the last year. But among Republicans, 57% say Biden鈥檚 election was illegitimate, compared with 32% of independents and 2% of Democrats.
Treasa Howell, a 58-year-old Republican from Springfield, Missouri, said a lot of the accusations against Trump ring true, but she believes they鈥檙e motivated more by politics than justice and Trump is being singled out.
鈥淚 honestly don鈥檛 feel like anybody in the political arena plays 100% fair,鈥 Howell said. 鈥淚 feel like it was a political indictment, but I absolutely believe it鈥檚 true. And that鈥檚 my problem with Trump.鈥
But if Trump wins the GOP nomination and faces a rematch against Biden, she鈥檒l reluctantly vote for him, she said.
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Cooper reported from Phoenix.
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The poll of 1,165 adults was conducted using a sample drawn from NORC鈥檚 probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
