Most Americans Believe Trump Indictment Is Primarily Politically Motivated: Quinnipiac Poll

Former President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the Georgia state GOP convention at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center in Columbus, Ga., on June 10, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Quinnipiac University released a poll on June 21 in which 62 percent of registered voters said that the 37-count indictment against former President Donald Trump for alleged improper handling of classified materials is primarily politically motivated.

These numbers follow Quinnipiac’s June 14 poll showing that six days after Trump’s indictment, his favorability numbers had hardly suffered.

The June 14 poll revealed that unwavering support for Trump, along with a lack of enthusiasm for a second Biden term, contributed to a tight head-to-head 2024 run for the White House, with Biden only up four points, 48–44.

Breaking out and parsing data from the most recent Quinnipiac poll shows overwhelming support for Trump among registered Republicans, with 91 percent polled saying the indictment was primarily politically motivated. Sixty-five percent of independents and 28 percent of Democrats believe that politics was the main motivation behind the indictment.

Sixty-seven percent of Hispanic voters, 59 percent of white voters, and 52 percent of black voters say the charges were mainly politically motivated.

Broken down by age, 67 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 said the indictment was politically motivated, while 53 percent of respondents aged 65 or older said the same.

As for Donald Trump’s endurance and resiliency as a candidate and political force, Tim McCoy, a polling analyst for Quinnipiac, said that despite a federal indictment, a court date with a litany of charges, and a “blizzard of critical media coverage,” the negative impact to Trump’s standing with voters seems to amount to “not much at all.”

Trump Still Popular With Many Americans

Polling and analysis website FiveThirtyEight looked at Trump’s favorability ratings in a report it published on June 20, finding that even a federal indictment hadn’t dented Trump’s popularity among his supporters.

FiveThirtyEight referenced data that reveals how a major portion of the American adult population feel that the government is overreaching and was too heavy-handed in going after Trump, even as a majority consider his handling of secret and sensitive papers to have jeopardized national security.

FiveThirtyEight pointed to two polls: a YouGov/CBS News poll which found that 69 percent of U.S. adults believed that Trump would have put American security at risk if he stored documents with military and nuclear secrets in his home after he left the White House, and an Ipsos/ABC News poll in which 61 percent of U.S. adults said the charges were serious.