A slim majority of Americans surveyed in a poll released Friday would support pardoning former President Trump if he is convicted and sentenced to jail over allegations that he mishandled classified documents.
The Harvard CAPS-Harris poll found 53 percent of total respondents — 80 percent of Republicans and 30 percent of Democrats — would support a pardon in the interest of national unity, showing a large partisan divide in opinion.
Among political independents, 52 percent said Trump should not be pardoned.
Trump was indicted on 37 felony charges related to the mishandling of classified documents — many in violation of the Espionage Act — and was arraigned at a Miami court Tuesday. It is alleged that Trump took the documents with him from the White House, kept them at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office and misled investigators when they requested the documents.
But to be pardoned, Trump would first have to be convicted. That is an outcome that a majority of Americans also think will be unlikely, the poll found.
Only 43 percent of respondents — 18 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of Democrats — said Trump is likely to be convicted.
However, exactly half of respondents said he should drop out of the 2024 race because of the charges, with a conviction or not. The most recent polling shows Trump still in the lead for the 2024 GOP nomination, making a rematch between him and President Biden likely.
The survey was conducted between June 14-15 among 2,090 registered voters — with no margin of error provided.