Americans divided on January 6th indictment, in line with other criminal cases against Trump

Washington DC, August 4, 2023— New ABC News/Ipsos polling finds that most Americans believe the charges against former President Trump in the January 6th case are serious, though there are significant differences by partisanship. Opinion has not changed between indictments on whether Trump should be charged with a crime or suspend his campaign and if the charges are politically motivated.

Separately, few Americans have confidence that the U.S. Department of Justice will be fair in its investigation of Hunter Biden. Few Americans also feel that the House of Representatives should start an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. For previous ABC News/Ipsos indictment polling, click here:
Documents Case, June 2023
NY state indictment, April 2023

Detailed findings:

1. A majority of Americans feel the January 6th charges are serious.  

• More Americans view the January 6th charges as serious (65%) than the documents indictment in June (61%) and the NY state indictment from April (52%).
• The share of Democrats and Republicans who view the documents charges and January 6th charges as serious remains flat (91% for Democrats and 38% for Republicans). Two in three independents (67%) view the January 6th charges as serious, slightly more than the 63% of independents who found the document charges serious, and significantly higher than the 54% that found the NY state indictment serious.
• Regardless of partisanship, more Democrats, Republicans, and independents find the January 6th indictment more serious than the NY state indictment

2. Despite some movement on the severity of charges between indictments, opinions are largely stable on whether Trump should be charged for a crime, whether the charges are politically motivated, and whether or not he should suspend his campaign.

• More Americans believe that former President Trump should be charged with a crime (52%) and suspend his campaign (49%) than believe he should not (32% and 36%, respectively).
• These views have not changed substantially between indictments. Roughly half of Americans believe he should be charged with a crime and suspend his campaign across each indictment.
• Americans are split on whether these charges are politically motivated, unchanged overtime (46% believe the charges are politically motivated for the January 6th indictment, 47% for the documents charges, and 50% in the most recent polling for the NY state case).
• Even so, the number of Americans who believe these charges are politically motivated (46%) outnumber those who do not (40%).

3. Separately, few Americans are confident that the U.S. Justice Department is handling its investigation of Hunter Biden in a fair and nonpartisan manner, and few feel the House of Representatives should start an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

• One in three Americans feels confident that the U.S. Justice Department is handling its investigation of Hunter Biden is fair and nonpartisan, with more Democrats (58%) feeling this way than independents (35%) or Republicans (13%).
• Two in five Americans believe the House of Representatives should start an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, with more Republicans (74%) feeling this way than independents (35%) or Democrats (11%).

About the Study

This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted August 2 to 3, 2023, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel^®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,076 adults age 18 or older with oversamples among Republican respondents to yield 489 adults.

One respondent was removed from the final data for refusing all of the survey items.

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult U.S. population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the U.S. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population. KnowledgePanel members receive a per survey incentive, usually the equivalent of $1 (though for some it is $2) in points, that can be redeemed for cash or prizes. No prenotification email for this study was sent prior to field. Panelists receive a unique login to the survey and are only able to complete it one time. No reminder emails were sent for this study.

The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income, and party identification. The demographic benchmarks came from 2022 Current Population Survey (CPS) from the US Census Bureau. Party ID benchmarks are from recent ABC News/Washington Post telephone polls. The weighting categories were as follows:

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45–59, and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other or 2+ Races Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
• Education (High School graduate or less, Some College, Bachelor and beyond)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
• Party ID (Democrat, Republican, Independent, Something else)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.30. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. Sampling error is only one potential source of error. There may be other unmeasured non-sampling error in this or any poll. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

About the Ipsos

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Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.

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