Almost half say Trump should face charges in connection with seized documents: poll

A new poll reveals that almost half of those surveyed — 47 percent — said former President Trump did something illegal or unethical in the wake of documents being seized from his home in Florida and should be charged with a crime.

Fourteen percent in the NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist survey said Trump acted illegally or unethically but should not face criminal charges.

Forty-four percent of respondents said after FBI agents seized boxes of government documents and materials at Mar-a-Lago that Trump did something illegal. Another 17 percent said Trump’s actions were unethical but not illegal, and 29 percent said the former president did nothing wrong.

Twenty percent of Republicans surveyed said that Trump did something unethical, while only 5 percent said the former president did something illegal. Most Republicans, 63 percent, said that he did nothing wrong, according to the poll.

The survey also reveals that most Americans, 61 percent, said they do not want Trump to run again for office in 2024. This includes 90 percent of Democrats, 26 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of independents.

A slightly higher percentage of respondents — 65 percent — said Trump should not run for office again if he is convicted of a crime connected to the search of Mar-a-Lago.

However, 27 percent of Americans — including 61 percent of Republicans — said they still would want Trump to run in 2024 if he was convicted of a crime.

The FBI entered Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago in August after securing a search warrant from a federal magistrate judge.

The Department of Justice said classified documents were seized and Trump may have violated the Presidential Records Act by keeping presidential records that former executives have always turned over to the National Archives. 

Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong in connection with the records.

The new poll of 1,236 adults, conducted from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1, has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.