Fox News reported this week that a new poll shows nearly half of Americans think former President Donald Trump should suspend his campaign.
Conducted by Ipsos among 566 adults between April 6 and April 7, the survey found that 48% think the former president should stop campaigning following his indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
What's more, the poll also found that 53% of respondents believe Trump intentionally engaged in illegal activity while another 11% suspect his behavior was improper but not a deliberate violation of law.
Meanwhile, 52% regard the charges to be "serious" compared with 39% who do not see them as being serious. Nine percent are undecided on the issue.
At the same time, 47% expressed a belief that the decision to charge Trump was politically motivated whereas 32% are skeptical that politics played a role.
How the former president's indictment is seen varies wildly by partisan affiliation. Seventy-nine percent of Republicans feel the charges are driven by politics, a number that drops to 16% for Democrats and 48% among independent voters.
Interestingly, another poll put out last week by Rasmussen had Trump beating President Joe Biden by seven points in the general election.
Rasmussen Poll: Trump Takes Biggest 2024 Lead So Far over Biden https://t.co/BJhrcz1p4I via @BreitbartNews
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) April 6, 2023
Carried out among 971 likely U.S. voters between March 30 and April, the survey puts Trump's support at 47% compared to 40% for Biden. Another 11% of respondents indicated that they would vote for some other candidate.
Those figures represent a major change from February when an earlier Rasmussen poll found Trump losing to Biden by three points.
Mark Mitchell serves as Rasmussen’s chief pollster, and he argued that rather than being hurt by Bragg's indictment, Trump has actually benefited from outrage at what some see as being a politicized justice system.
"Voters are very much paying attention, and they do not like what they see," Mitchell told Newsmax host Emerald Robinson.
Trump's critics say he can't win a general election. So @Rasmussen_Poll asked real Americans what they think. See how they responded with Rassmussen's Mark Mitchell. pic.twitter.com/iHcfkw47kc
— The Absolute Truth with @EmeraldRobinson (@AbsoluteWithE) April 6, 2023
What's more, a CNN poll conducted between March 1 and March 31 found that just 32% of Americans think the president should be reelected, a figure which rose to 36% when only registered voters were asked.
