Only one-third of Americans think Trump did something illegal as hush money trial gets underway

One in three Americans aren't convinced that former United States president Donald Trump committed a crime, according to a recent poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The second day of the historic trial in New York beganon Tuesday (Apr 16) with the Republican frontrunner in a Manhattan courtroom for the jury selection.

What did the poll find?

On Monday (Apr 15), Trump, 77, set yet another record by becoming the first-ever former US president to go on trial for criminal charges which stem from the case where he has been accused of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and falsifying business records to cover the payments.

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WATCH |Trump's hush-money trial resumes in New York

The AP-NORC poll found that one-third of American adults surveyed believe that Trump did something illegal in the case. The former president has three other criminal cases pending against him.

Notably, only half of Americans would consider the presumptive Republican presidential nominee unfit for the presidency if he were to get convicted in the case, according to the poll.

While a jury would decide if Trump is guilty or not, the report by AP-NORC suggests that a conviction could hurt the former president’s campaign as it seems all but certain that the upcoming presidential election will be a rematch between him and his successor Joe Biden.

However, Trump has repeatedly called the cases against him politically motivated and that Biden engineered them. The rhetoric has helped him garner GOP support, but has not swayed the independents, reported AP.

The poll of 1,204 adults was conducted between April 4 and 8 and also showed that only three in 10 believe that the prosecutors are treating Trump fairly.

Also Read |Trump hush money case: No jury selected on day 1 as potential jurors confess to bias against the Republican

The report also said that only two in 10 Americans are extremely or very confident that the judges and jurors in the cases against him can be fair and impartial.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34-count indictment, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, which includes charges of accounting fraud and falsifying business records to cover up the $130,000 payment to Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The former president has also denied having sex with Daniels. However, at least 35 per cent of Americans believe that Trump has done something illegal with regard to the hush money allegations, as per the AP-NORC poll.

Republicans are reportedly much less likely than Democrats and independents to say that the former president committed a crime in the hush money case, with nearly six in 10 saying that they would consider Trump fit to be president even if he were to be convicted of falsifying business documents.

Second day of the trial

The second day of the trial took place on Tuesday with Trump’s defence lawyer pressing prospective jurors for their opinion on the former US president as they look to select jury members for the trial.

Also Read |Trump’s hush money trial: Violation of gag order can lead to fines, jail time, say New York prosecutors

Manhattan Assistant DA Joshua Steinglass told the 18 prospective jurors – who are what remained of the initial pool of 96 – that the case had nothing to do with their personal politics.

“This case is really not about whether you like Donald Trump,” said the Manhattan Assistant DA, adding it is about “the rule of law and whether Donald Trump broke it.”

This comes after Judge Juan Merchan had to dismiss some potential jurors after they confessed that they could not impartially decide if Trump was guilty or not. At the end of the first day, no jurors were selected.

(With inputs from agencies)