If former President Donald Trump ends up being indicted by a grand jury — in connection with a probe into whether he broke the law in allegedly organizing and concealing a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels — a majority of Republicans don't think it will stop him from re-election.
According to new Quinnipiac University poll, 75% of registered GOP voters don't think criminal charges against Trump should disqualify him from running for president.
If charges are filed against him as a result of multiple state and federal criminal investigations, the poll shows 57% of Americans as a whole think Trump should be "forever banished from office," while 38% of Americans disagree.
Along party lines, 88% of Democrats, 55% of independents and 23% of Republicans think criminal charges should disqualify Trump from another run at office, according to the poll. On the other hand, 9% of Democrats, 36% of independents and 75% of Republicans think it shouldn't matter.
The poll also shows that 6 in 10 Americans (62%) think the Manhattan District Attorney's case involving Trump is mainly motivated by politics, while 32% think the case is mainly motivated by the law.
Those who think the investigation is politically motivated include 93% of Republicans, 70% of independents and 29% of Democrats, according to the poll. Those who think it is simply motivated by the law include 66% of Democrats, 26% of independents and 5% of Republicans.
As of Thursday, an indictment by a Manhattan grand jury has yet to happen. According to multiple reports, the jury is expected to take a break after April 5 and resume its investigation later that month. It is unclear whether the grand jury will rehear the Trump case before April 5, a source told CNN. The break would push any indictment of the former president to late April at the earliest.
The grand jury has been investigating Trump's involvement in a $130,000 payment made in 2016 to Daniels, allegedly to keep her from going public about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier. Trump has denied the claim.
A poll released earlier this week shows more than 80% of Republicans believe the hush money investigation, along with other criminal probes, are "witch hunts." Only 18% of Republicans polled responded that they thought the criminal probes are unbiased.
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