An overwhelming number of American voters agree with top legal scholars and the Trump campaign that the charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are spurious. Only about one-third of Americans say they believe former President Donald Trump engaged in illegal activity for which he’s being prosecuted in the New York hush-money trial, which began on Monday.
According to new survey data from AP-NORC, 35 percent of Americans believe the former President engaged in illegal activity. However, 31 percent said they thought his actions were unethical but did not rise to the level of being against the law, and 14 percent said Trump did nothing wrong.
The District Attorney prosecuting the case, Alvin Bragg, has faced criticism from the legal community for bringing the charges against the former President. When Bragg filed charges against Trump just over a year ago, even some of the former President’s harshest critics in Congress expressed skepticism regarding the legal theories underpinning the District Attorney’s case.
“I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said at that time. He added: “The prosecutor’s overreach sets a dangerous precedent for criminalizing political opponents and damages the public’s faith in our justice system.” Romney twice voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump.
The AP-NORC survey also reveals that a majority of those polled agree that the former President is unlikely to receive a fair trial in Manhattan. Trump’s attorneys have requested a venue change, but Democrat-connected Judge Juan Merchan has rejected those motions.
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