Most Americans in a new poll disagree with former President Trump’s argument that he should be immune from prosecution over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election as a federal appeals court prepares to weigh in on the issue.
In a poll by CBS News/YouGov, published Tuesday, participants were asked if Trump “should have immunity from criminal prosecution for actions he took while he was president.” More than 6 in 10 participants (64 percent) disagreed with the argument, while about 36 percent said the former president should have immunity.
When it comes to investigation and related charges, the majority of Republicans — 69 percent — said they favor immunity for Trump for his conduct while in office. Only 14 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of independents said the same.
The former president is facing four felony counts in the federal election subversion case. Prosecutors allege he was involved in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and stood at the center of a campaign to block the certification of votes for President Biden on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump and his legal team have repeatedly argued his actions leading up to and surrounding the insurrection are protected by presidential immunity.
They are pushing for the appeals court to overturn a lower court’s ruling that rejected this argument. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hold a hearing Tuesday on the issue.
Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled last month that “the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass.”
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Following Chutkan’s ruling, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith urged the Supreme Court to immediately weigh in on the immunity argument. He cited efforts to keep the March trial on track.
The nation’s highest court declined to take up the case, ruling the appeals court should first consider the case.
Such legal proceedings could put a delay in Trump’s trial, currently slated to begin March 4.
The former president confirmed on social media that he will attend Tuesday’s hearing, reiterating his immunity argument.
“Of course I was entitled, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief, to Immunity. I wasn’t campaigning, the Election was long over,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. “I was looking for voter fraud, and finding it, which is my obligation to do, and otherwise running running our Country.”
His legal team has repeatedly made attempts to delay his criminal cases in D.C., along with those in Georgia, New York and Florida, with hopes of the cases being pushed to after the 2024 election.
The CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted among a sample of 2,157 U.S. residents between Jan. 3-5. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.