Americans Endorse Alvin Bragg?

Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

More than half of adult Americans support Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) decision to indict former President Donald Trump on 34 felony charges relating to falsifying corporate records, according to a new poll.

The data is from a YouGov/The Economist poll released Wednesday (April 12), which showed 38 percent of American adults sharing they strongly approve of the decision, and another 16 percent approve.

Thirty-six percent of Just Americans disapprove of Bragg’s decision, while 27 percent say they strongly oppose it; 10 percent expressed being unsure about how they feel about the indictment.

The indictment stems from an investigation into Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paying Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, $130,000 to be silent about an alleged affair she had with Trump in 2006.

Cohen made the payment days before the 2016 Presidential election.

Now a presidential candidate in the 2024 White House race, Trump is the first former U.S. President to face criminal charges.

Trump also pleaded not guilty to all charges when he was arraigned in a Manhattan criminal court earlier this month. He has repeatedly dismissed the Bragg investigation as politically motivated and accused the Manhattan prosecutor of meddling in the presidential election.

Trump’s supporters have echoed the assertion that Bragg’s investigation is politically motivated and intended to interfere with the 2024 election.

However, of the 1,500 poll participants, nearly half (49 percent) did not share the sentiment, saying they believe the allegations against Trump stem from a legitimate investigation. In contrast, 38 percent said they believed it was a “witch hunt.” Thirteen percent were unsure.

About 49 percent of respondents also said they believe Trump committed a crime when he falsified business records in an attempt to hide the hush money payment, while 30 percent said he did not. Twenty-one percent were not sure.