The vast majority of Americans believe Donald Trump removing classified and top-secret documents and storing them in his suite at Mar-a-Lago is “wrong,” “serious,” and warrants a criminal investigation by the Dept. of Justice.
A just-released poll by The Economist and YouGov finds seven in ten Americans (70%) say it’s important for presidents to follow the Presidential Records Act, including 90% of Biden voters and 68% of Trump voters.
But for Republicans, the bar is far higher for Hillary Clinton and her private email server – a far-less serious act.
More than nine out of ten Republicans say Clinton’s use of a personal email address – not a crime – was “serious,” but the majority of Republicans (52%) say Trump removing classified and even top-secret federal government documents from the White House for apparent post-presidency use – possibly if not likely a criminal act – was not.
The poll does reveal nearly eight in ten Americans (79%) say it was “more wrong,” than “more right” of Trump to remove the classified documents, including a strong majority of Republicans (61%).
Meanwhile, most Americans (57%) say they would approve of the Dept. of Justice opening a criminal investigation into Trump possibly violating the Presidential Records Act by removing the classified and even top-secret intelligence and national security documents. Only 29% of Republicans agree.