More voters say pardons for Trump’s family would be inappropriate: poll

A Morning Consult-Politico poll published Wednesday found that more voters say it would be inappropriate for President Trump to pardon his family members than those who support the move.

Of the 1,990 voters surveyed, 51 percent said it would be inappropriate to pardon Ivanka Trump. Twenty-four percent said it would be appropriate, and 24 percent said they either didn’t know or had no opinion.

Fifty-four percent said it would be inappropriate to pardon Donald Trump Jr., compared to 24 percent who thought it would be appropriate and 23 percent who said they didn’t know.

In addition, 52 percent said it would be inappropriate to pardon Eric Trump, and 23 percent said it would be appropriate, while 26 percent did not indicate an opinion.

Roughly half of respondents also indicated that it would be inappropriate to pardon the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner. 

Forty-eight percent of voters said it would be inappropriate to pardon Giuliani, compared to 23 percent that said it would be. Twenty-nine percent of voters said they didn’t know.

A similar percentage of respondents — 47 percent — said it would be inappropriate to pardon Kushner.

The New York Times reported that the president was weighing preemptive pardons for his three eldest children, Kushner and Giuliani out of fears that President-elect Joe Biden’s administration would investigate his family.

The news came roughly one week after Trump pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to federal authorities during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Pardons were more popular among Republicans voters in the new poll, with slim majorities finding it appropriate to issue the potential pardons.

Democrats overwhelming said it was inappropriate to issue the pardons, while smaller majorities of independents said the same.

The poll surveyed 1,990 registered voters Dec. 4-6. It has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.