Criminal law, Media, Politics

Harvard Poll: 55 Percent of the Public View the Trump Indictment as “Politically Motivated”

A Harvard/Harris poll is bad news for Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department. The poll shows that 55% of Americans believe Trump’s indictment is politically motivated and 56%  believe that it constitutes election interference.  The poll captures the level of distrust for the Justice Department and further demonstrates what I described yesterday as the failure of Merrick Garland at the midpoint of his tenure as Attorney General.

The view of the case appears to be worsening. Now there is less than a majority viewing the indictment as well-founded and justified. The poll shows that 83% of Republicans and 55% of Independents view the indictment as a political exercise. Not only do 56 percent view it as election interference but only 44 percent see it as “the fair application of the law”: 

The poll is also bad news for Biden. Some 65 percent believe Biden “mishandled” classified material while 72 percent take that view with Clinton’s email scandal.

The Justice Department and the media appear to have “lost the room” with the American people. They are primarily appealing to Democrats who (at 80%) support the indictment.

The FBI and the Justice Department made this perception worse through continual leaks to the media and allegedly staging the photo above after the raid on Mar-a-Lago.

By his own measure, Garland has failed to restore the credibility and trust in the Justice Department. It now appears worse than when his predecessor, Bill Barr, was in office.

It is also an indictment of the media. After years of “advocacy journalism” and biased reporting, the public now tunes out the media. This is a strong indictment with troubling allegations and evidence. Yet, it does not matter because the media long ago lost much of the country with one-sided, unrelenting coverage.

It also means that this case could conceivably never see a jury unless Special Counsel Jack Smith succeeds in pushing for a speedy trial before the election. A majority of the public now supports a pardon for Trump if he is convicted.  With these polls, the pressure of other Republican candidates to pledge a pardon is likely to increase. Indeed, as suggested in another column, Biden may want to consider a pledge to commute any sentence to try to defang this building election issue.

 

159 thoughts on “Harvard Poll: 55 Percent of the Public View the Trump Indictment as “Politically Motivated””

  2. So what Garland will do nothing. Soft coup, National Socialist have seizured power. We will not vote our way out.

    It will require the Constitutional Remedy.

  3. To suggest a pardon for Pres.Trump, is to assume he will be found guilty on the trump-up charges our criminal DOJ has put together against an innocent man. Turley and other legal brainiacs should stop the BS.

    1. Perhaps, wrt to a ‘Biden’ pardon, Prof Turley is suggesting some sort of ‘preemptive’ pardon? A political calculation to ensure a free and fair election (I make my own self lol.). I’m no legal brainiac, but that seems fraught with legal implications.

      *not least, the status of special Counsel Smith’s on-going ‘mandate’.

  5. If enough Independents continue to see Biden as an incompetent, corrupt, election-interfering oaf, Garland will make sure the case against Trump gets dropped before the election. The Democrats want their power base more than they want Trump in jail.

  6. Federal law does not allow politicians to use public money or any other public resources to subsidize their political campaigns. The rules are so strict that fundraising calls may not be conducted while on government property.

    Amazingly, in spite of the law, the Democrats have found a way to augment their efforts to defeat their political adversaries by using money from the taxpayers.

    What you do is you get your friends at the DOJ and the FBI to reach down into the federal treasury and remove millions of taxpayer dollars every year to pay for a series of ongoing investigations of your political adversary. Although your eventual goal is to have the targeted individual sent to prison, you get to benefit in the meantime by holding public hearings and making occasional calls to your friends in the media to tell them how you are closing in.

    Not only does this strategy generate millions of dollars of free money every year to attack your political adversary, you get to avoid reporting the money as a campaign contribution even though it is.

  7. There is so much lacking here. Did JT graduate from kindergarten? Blame it all on the left.

    Not a word about all the efforts of Repos to ban books, ban the discussion of race relations in schools, ban the discussion of gender in schools. Anybody heard of the Don’t Say Gay bill in Florida? Anybody heard all the news of librarians, teachers, and doctors quitting their profession because of the laws passed that make it impossible for them to do their jobs? Or make them criminal and civilly liable for items with views in them that someone might (might) find objectionable? I am pretty sure, but please correct me if I’m wrong, all those bills punishing viewpoints were passed by right wing Repo legislatures.

    Also, not a word about holding people responsible for their “Free” speech. A certain ex president gave a speech inciting a crowd to ransack our nation’s capitol building. He walks free. And before all the morons here say he didn’t incite them, look up what the people convicted of crimes in the capitol building say, most of them say they did it at the behest of trump. His words incited them to riot in the capitol building looking for people to kill. This is what they say as they now have now been convicted of crimes

    Right JT, it is all the lefts fault. Sheeeeeeeeesh. Grow up..

    1. Everything you wrote had nothing to do with what Turley wrote. Next time try to stay on the subject at hand.

      1. Yea, my mistake, got the links mixed up. This was for his previous screed on free speech.

      2. But this is also a bad piece of writing as there is so much wrong here. JT has gone full tilt right wing wacko, such a shame because he once had some good points on free speech. Must be all that money he’s making from Fox News that tilted his views.

        1. “But this is also a bad piece of writing as there is so much wrong here.”

          He writes, without a hint of irony.

    2. BabyTrump: Ummm….all those “bans” you’re ranting about, well, they’re not bans at all. You need to start reading some factual media and stay away from the Democrat propaganda. It makes you look like a fool.

      1. Wow, I’ve seen school boards ban books. I’ve seen librarians quite their jobs. I’ve seen doctors leave a state rather than risk going to jail or paying fines for doing their job.

        1. Removing pornography is not banning books.
          If a librarian quits their jobs over having pornography in the library, then it is probably best for the community they did.
          You mean doctors leaving a state if they question COVID, vacccines?

    3. Gosh you are angry and bitter.

      Trump really has lodged in your head.

    4. “Anybody heard of the Don’t Say Gay bill in Florida? “

      Baby Trump, are you a joke? Your statement shows you listen to headlines and know very little else. You can sexualize your 5 year old, but don’t do the same to mine.

      1. So people that say things like that, “You can sexualize your 5 year old, but don’t do the same to mine” really scare me. Trump goes around saying the election was stolen, he was the one doing it. He talked about people taking classified documents and they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, he had lots of classified documents in his house.

        There are several Repo elected officials that ranted about gays, prostitutes, drugs, meanwhile, they were gay, used prostitutes and drugs.

        So when you say I can sexualize my 5 year old. I really think that is exactly what you are doing.

        You really need to quit impuning on others what you are doing like all the rest of the Repo crowd that wants to control what others do with their lives.

        1. You can sexualize your 5 year old, but don’t do the same to mine” really scare me. “

          Your lack of knowledge about the Florida Law you errantly call the ‘don’t say gay’ law makes one wonder about your understanding of what a 5-year-old needs to know about sex.

          Then you relate that to Trump’s opinion of a stolen election. Do you have proof it wasn’t? Only ignorant people don’t understand the irregularities that occurred during that election.

          Add to the above that you don’t know that Trump had a right to move classified documents to his home as President, and we can see a person with no knowledge at all.

          You can do with your life what you wish while remaining ignorant but don’t expect the same from everyone else.

    5. Anybody heard of the Don’t Say Gay bill in Florida?

      Florida has a bill titled Don’t Say Gay? I didn’t know that. Please tell me about this legislation that specifically states that it is illegal to say gay.

      1. Olly: Bravo! Excellent underscoring of where some of us get our information…

      3. OLLY,
        Leftist ignorance is quite impressive.
        They will blindly believe anything MSM spews as . . . news.

        1. It’s the lack of shame that is truly remarkable. It wasn’t that long ago that Democrats would get pissed at the media when they learned they were hiding government corruption. Today, they get pissed if they don’t.

      1. Which books are being banned from sale or possession?

        As I noted recently with the Hunter College adjunct instructor caught on video wielding a machete, the Left is actively banning, censoring, silencing any news coverage of Leftists who are caught in acts of violence. Furthermore, the DOJ, FBI, et al are censoring and banning the production of any documents that implicates Joseph Biden engaging in quid pro quo bribery vis a vis Burisma, $10 Million payment. Plus the Left censored the Hunter Biden laptop from hell story, and frankly too many other examples to list

        these arguments from the Left regarding banning of books are classic projection on their behalf. How do you know when Democrats lie? when they move their lips

  8. The human species is a wonderful example of evolution at its best: retaining those survival characteristics that have brought the species to this apex of superiority. One of those characteristics is the innate and intuitive ability to sense, or “sniff out” danger, false or imitative information, or inharmonious environments negatively affecting our well-being.
    The Harvard/Harris poll (among others) reinforces our sensory perceptions… and our survival as an intuitive and self-correcting species. I hope it manifests in palpable resistance to false flags and inevitable fatality for propagandistic efforts.

    1. “. . . the innate and intuitive ability to sense, or “sniff out” danger . . .”

      If that ability were innate, the West would not be committing suicide.

      1. “[We gave you] a [restricted-vote] republic, if you can keep it.”

        – Ben Franklin
        ____________

        You couldn’t.

        You lost your resolve; you lost your ability to lead.

        You started taking commands from your retainers, the inverse of leadership.

        Next, you’ll be too much of a pusillanimous milquetoast to kill and eat meat.

        You’ll give court to vegetarians, environmentalist wackos, LGBTQ and NAMBLA debauchery, anti-Constitution communists, UBI, reparations for phantom grievances, student loan forgiveness, illegal immigration, open-border alien invasion, favor derived of skin color, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum.

        “If you can keep it.”

        Ben Franklin knew you couldn’t…

        without a severely restricted vote and the “manifest tenor” of the U.S. Constitution.

  10. I agree that Trump’s treatment is politically motivated and action against those that are culpable should be punished.

  11. 19% of those polled hadn’t even heard about the indictment.
    Who knows what % has read it, but I bet it’s quite small. They didn’t ask.
    58% think that the DOJ has a very strong or somewhat strong case against Trump.
    A plurality says that “He is probably guilty of the charges and should be convicted” best matches their beliefs.
    51% say Trump should withdraw from the GOP race.

    But of course people’s opinions don’t determine any of these things.

  12. And that is a poll obly reflective of those brave enough to speak the truth.

  13. Professor Turley says this poll is “bad news.” Why? What are the consequences? There are none. In this Administration, to quote TH White, “Might makes Right.” When there is no one to hold you to account, then there is no problem. And this is the only the beginning. As long as nobody really even knew about the Swamp, they had to maintain some semblance of fairness, but that no longer applies. The Swamp is out of the closet and it’s hungry for blood. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the only politician to openly take on the Swamp also happens to be the one the Swamp is trying so hard to destroy.

  14. I am ‘no confidence’ with polls, and ‘no confidence’ with the vote. We shall we what we shall see. Time will tell if and what the Fat Lady sings or just drops dead.

  15. The fact that it is so low should be of concern.
    For those who remember the original reason for the asset forfeiture laws, they were designed to take major drug suppliers money, pre trial, to keep them from hiring such good lawyers that were beating US prosecutors in court! Constitutionally “iffy”, IMO.
    Moving on to today, asset forfeiture is used by local ding bat police departments to shake down and seize cash from anyone carrying “more than they should”, determined by attitudinal guidelines.
    How did we get there?
    The Justice Department ignored the Constitution for what then seemed like a great idea, Dual Justice was served in the War on Drugs. But the law as never overturned or cancelled because law enforcement needed the extra money from asset forfeiture for their budgets.
    Today, it is perfectly fine to for the US government to target the incumbent’s political competition. In a few years, we will have completely lost control of federal, state, and local police powers in the USA.

  16. I don’t believe that Biden’s hard inner circle will not allow him to commute any prison sentence. They are way too far in-the-paint with this whole persecution effort to back off. Neither Merrick Garland or Chris Wray give a damn about their credibility. Their goal is to get Trump whatever the cost. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.

  17. Here are a few question for those who think Barr politicised DOJ to support Trump:

    1. Why did he allow the Hunter Biden investigation to drag on unresolved?

    2. Why did he not reveal during the Ukraine impeachment process that Hunter Biden was under investigation and that they had an incriminating laptop?

    3. Why did he not reveal the Form 1023 containing credible allegations of bribery of Joe Biden?

    4. Why did he not open a criminal investigation of Joe Biden for bribery instead of forwarding the Form 1023 to the Delaware Hunter Biden investigation where it appears to have been buried?

    5. Why did he allow Auten and Thibault to bury derogatory information about Hunter and Joe Biden?

    6. Why did he not refute the Russian disinformation lie about the laptop when made by the 51 former intelligence officials?

    Barr appears to have bent over backwards to avoid entangling DOJ in politics. I think he went too far. But what a contrast with Garland!

    1. How could anyone answer your questions without being mind-readers?

    2. reasoning with a Democrats is like Reasoning with a German Socialist in 1930’s Germany

    3. Excellent list, but “Barr appears to have bent over backwards to avoid entangling DOJ in politics.”

      Initially, though suspicious, I liked Barr giving him the benefit of the doubt because he appeared as one trying to be fair and balanced even though I disagreed with his assessment of some of the incidents.

      However, if he is the man to avoid such politicization, then as the former AG for Trump, why did he give such an interview while admitting a lack of sufficient data? It seems to me Barr might be attached a bit too much to the deep state. Do you remember when he provided testimony on J6 and the discussion of 2000 Mules? He sneered at the documentary while quoting a number to back up his sneer. [The documentary said to eliminate error, they didn’t report incidents unless they happened ten times. Barr reduced that number to 5. Such an error demonstrated bias, and I wondered if it were intentional.]

      1. I too like a lot of what Barr says and does. But his first loyalty appears to be to the law enforcement and intelligence institutions. To avoid the appearance of politicisation he tread lightly where he should have been tougher. Had he been more willing to prosecute officials like Comey and McCabe, and had he been more forthcoming about the allegations against Joe Biden and his family, we would likely be in a different and better situation today.

        1. “his first loyalty appears to be to the law enforcement and intelligence institutions.”

          That is how I felt earlier, but if that were true, he would have removed himself from the interview he gave. As Trump’s AG, the public sees that interview as evidence. Unfortunately, that evidence is not subject to cross-examination.

          He should have remained silent until the word ‘IF’ was replaced with appropriate data. Add his sneer and erroneous comment about 2000Mules, and one has to start doubting. Your comment, “Had he been more willing to prosecute officials like Comey and McCabe,…” makes me more uncomfortable with him.

          1. Well, I think he views Trump as a potential threat to law enforcement and intelligence institutions, and the national security state more generally. So he now opposes him politically. Given his loyalties, he might even support Biden if it came down to a choice between the two.

            1. That is a good point, but the IC is part of the deep state, meaning Barr has loyalty to the deep state. Living in Washington and being surrounded by its culture can change the way people view things, and in part, I think that is what happened to Barr. Intrinsically, he is a good man, but his immersion into the political hell of Washington, I believe, altered his character.

      2. I think Barr is still playing by the old rules and thinks, except for a few, the Dems are too. The Dems of Barr’s time no longer exist. They have become Leninist/Maoist in their march for power, weaponizing the government under Obama with Holder at the DOJ, the IRS attacking anyone or any organization they felt threatening their push “to fundamentally change the United States,” four years of undermining the Trump administration with bogus investigations of collusion with Russia and their soft coup, bogus impeachments, and their progressive/totalitarian march to DIE.

        Republicans and Independents need to change how they fight the current ideological war that is going on, or be swept under.

        1. Maj229,
          Saw a recent poll of people identifying as Conservative at a record high.
          There was a clash of Armenian Americas and antifa at a school board meeting in CA. The Armenians did not want LBTG ideology being taught in school to their children.
          In another school in MA, the students walked out in protest of having Pride shoved down their throats. Some tore down Pride displays.
          A Christian and a Muslim group have banned together to fight against a Maryland law of mandatory LBGT indoctrination in public schools.
          An estimated 2,000 people showed up in protest to the anti-Catholic Nuns of Indulgence in Dodger stadium parking lot. Even Jews showed up in support.
          The Bud Light and Target boycotts have cost both companies billions of dollars and appear to have legs.
          It is not that they are all anti-LBGT.
          They just dont want it shoved down their throats or taught to their children.
          I call it common sense.

          So, I think we are now seeing pushback and fighting against the ideological war.

          1. It is not that they are all anti-LBGT.

            Nope. The backlash is because the ad campaign denigrated their customer base. For me, do what ever tweaks your kinks, and sates your sexual desires, as long as it between consenting adults. But gays+ demand I actively promote gay sex with with all the children in our elementary schools.
            That’s why Bud Light sales tanked. Denigrating t heir customer base. The Base said they wont be treated that way and left.

            I remember after 9-11 and the Dixie Chicks said “‘Just so you know,’ says singer Natalie Maines, ‘We’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.’” , “Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence. And we’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.”
            This was on foreign soil, performing in England. Here again, they are slamming their customer base, while pandering to leftist foreigners.
            And of course Bill Mahr called our military men and women cowards, not like the brave suicide bombers of 9-11, that cost him is HBO gig.

            All of this is denigrating your base market.

          2. Upstate – I’ve seen that too, but Republicans still think there are rules. The Dems have destroyed those rules, they think the end justifies the means, even if the means destroys the country. They think you, me, and everyone who disagrees with them are evil, deserving of being suppressed by any means available, up to and including violence.

            The similarity between the language of the Dems/libs/progressive and every totalitarian government in the last 90 years is exactly the same. Denigrating everyone who disagree with them, attaching the label of “evil” on them, reducing them to less than human, destroying the basic norms of society, demonizing their opponents, in addition to sexualizing/abusing children under the guise of “gender affirmation,” destroying the border, destroying the concept of citizenship and nation.

            There is a storm coming in the far East over Taiwan, Ukraine is in a stalemate after we have spent over $100 billion, money we don’t have, and the CCP and Russians are laughing. Anthony Blinken is running to Xi Jinping to beg on his knees that China not invade Taiwan, and the rest of the world sees the United Sates no longer as a superpower, but a nation in decline that can’t even define what a “woman” is. All of this in less than 3 years under Biden/Dem/lib/progressive “leadership.” While Biden eats ice cream, the world burns, and Xi Jinping smiles at the result of releasing the Wuhan virus, a virus paid for by his main adversary the United States.

        2. Bill Barr’s speech at Notre Dame in 2019 was courageous in diagnosing the cause of the llfall of America and prescribing a remedy. Since it involved religion, naturally the weak beta male “conservatives” and the triggered “left” dismiss Bill Barr’s assessment and treatment plan. Anyone who thinks America, which was founded by men and women with religious, moral and virtuous ethos running through their veins, can be saved without religion, call themselves “conservative” since it means anything they want it to mean. Cowards are like that, e.g. Donald Trump and his blind followers. The Left are predictable because they are godless which explains their lunacy.

          If America were rid of conservatives and the Left, say send them off to Mars where they could devour each other online, of course, America might have a chance. Otherwise to diminish or disregard the religious, moral and virtuous living that men from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln embraced unapologetically, is to be unAmerican and accelerats America’s demise. Here we are, just like St Augustine of Hippo wrote in City of God in explaining why the Fall of the Roman Empire occurred. He would have known since he was there. Bill Barr also knows for the same exact reasons.

          Attorney General William P. Barr Delivers Remarks to the Law School and the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame

          https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-remarks-law-school-and-de-nicola-center-ethics

          The challenge we face is precisely what the Founding Fathers foresaw would be our supreme test as a free society. They never thought the main danger to the republic came from external foes. The central question was whether, over the long haul, we could handle freedom. The question was whether the citizens in such a free society could maintain the moral discipline and virtue necessary for the survival of free institutions. By and large, the Founding generation’s view of human nature was drawn from the classical Christian tradition.

          1. “Anyone who thinks America, which was founded by men and women with religious, moral and virtuous ethos running through their veins, can be saved without religion, call themselves “conservative” since it means anything they want it to mean. Cowards are like that, e.g. Donald Trump and his blind followers”

            Trump is a populist. Who is leading? Who is following? Trump’s politics were different entering the White House than they were while there. However, many of his policies existed when he was younger. When he was young, Kennedy was President and so was Ronald Reagan.

            Trump’s “followers” don’t agree with everything he does or says. They accept him as a leader because he permits them to be free.

            Yes, the term conservative is adopted by many people meaning many different things. That is why many describe their conservative tendencies. Even libertarians aren’t pure. Most are against the left and follow Trump because he leads a direction away from today’s left.

            Is religion needed for our Republic to survive? The only Western nation existing today that existed in ancient times is Israel, the Jewish state. Morality (found in religion), stated by the founders, is necessary for our type of government.

          2. “[T]he Founding generation’s view of human nature was drawn from the classical Christian tradition.”

            That is false, on numerous counts. Here are just two:

            Religion promotes faith over reason. The FF view is that man can think for himself, and thus does not need a Leviathan to direct his life.

            Religion holds that man is inherently weak and evil. The FF view is that man is efficacious and good. And thus man is able to handle freedom and is worthy of it.

            (You have a fantastic ability to fast forward from the fall of Rome to the Founders.)

        3. “I think Barr is still playing by the old rules “

          I agree with you as well. I think these things merge while life in D.C. fails to permit one to see the nation as it is. We generally forgive our friends and find their mistakes lesser than those unknown. That is how Barr perceived Mueller and others that surround the justice department. Your added words help to complete a picture.

  18. Once again, the presumption of sanity or fairness on the part of the dems is a severe overreach, IMO. They don’t CARE about people’s perceptions. They don’t care about people, period. They don’t care about the rule of law. If they can’t win power, they will simply attempt to seize it. If they can’t engender willingness, they will force compliance. Folks like the Professor really need to stop addressing this as though they are not dealing with a totalitarian regime in the modern left. The rules are not even a consideration to them.

    1. I think you’re confused. Wasn’t it a Repo president that after loosing an election then sent a mob to kill the VP and House Speaker? Disrupt the certification of the election so he could stay in power? Lost 60+ court cases that said he did not win the election? Demos don’t care about the rule of law? A certain citizen was found with lots and lots of classified documents in his house. He refused to give them up when asked to on several occasions. When given a subpoena he tried to hide the documents. So now he is set to go to trial for these alleged crimes and what does the right say? It’s all a witch hunt, let him go he did nothing wrong. How about letting the rule of law run its course, have a trial see what the jury says.

      Don’t give me this BS about the left not caring about the rule of law or caring about people.

      1. “sent a mob to kill the VP and House Speaker”

        A great example of the Left’s psychological state: Hysteria,

  19. Public opinion must control in these situations, no matter how egregious the criminal activity is.

  20. Fake news, fake poll. I can show you polls that confirm the opposite: that people see right through the imbecilic conman, including through his fake tan and fake hair and fake bonespurs and fake skin color. And some of these very real polls are at 60%, 82%, many people say 5,397%. You know this, you know about it.

    1. @D

      Hey! But look at that. *Real*, never before seen troll. 🙄🙄 Thanks for your non-contribution to the conversation.

      1. Thanks, James, for demonstrating your incapacity for recognizing irony and sarcasm. Your TU degree just shines.

        1. @D

          Sorry, my bad. It’s a knee-jerk reaction, posts about Trump always shake the woodwork and trolls pop out like cockroaches. You have my apologies.

    2. You are right about the polls. But they are a measure of “pro dual justice” and “anti dual justice”. So many people from foreign nations are no here as citizens, or living like citizens, they have no clue what “impartial justice” is. It was the way it was when THEY LEFT TO COME HERE FOR WORK. NOT IMPARTIAL JUSTICE.
      As Plato whispered over a pint of grog: “The masses are asses.”

    3. “I can show you polls that confirm the opposite”
      well then please provide those polls and the urls to them so we can judge for ourselves

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