Half of Americans believe Trump should have been charged with a crime: poll

Half of Americans say that former President Trump should have been charged with a crime after his highly anticipated indictment was unsealed last Tuesday.

The new ABC News/Ipsos poll, which was conducted after Trump’s charges were revealed, found that 50 percent of Americans believe that the former president should be charged with a crime, a slight increase from the 45 percent last week prior to his arraignment that initially said he should be charged.

In contrast, 33 percent say Trump should not be charged, only increasing by one point from last week.

As for what Americans think Trump exactly did in the hush money case, 53 percent of Americans think he intentionally did something illegal versus the 11 percent who say he acted wrongly but not intentionally. Only 20 percent think he did not do anything wrong.

The poll also gauged Americans’ overall impression of Trump before and after his arrest, with 25 percent saying the former president was favorable after the arrest, a 4 percent decrease from his favorability before the arrest. On the other side, 61 percent said they find Trump unfavorable after his arrest, a 6 percent increase.

Last Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts for his alleged participation in a hush-money scheme, which made him the first current or former commander-in-chief to be arraigned on criminal charges.