Poll: Majority of Americans want Trump trial to be scheduled before 2024 election

August 30, 2023

An overwhelming majority of Americans—including, crucially, nearly two-thirds of Independents—want former President Donald Trump to stand trial in the Justice Department’s 2020 election case before the 2024 election, reports Vanity Fair.

A Politico Magazine/Ipsos poll surveyed 1,032 Democratic, Republican, and Independent adults between August 18 and August 21—a period slightly less than three weeks after Special Counsel Jack Smith indicted the former president in a criminal investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

The poll, released on Friday, August 25, was conducted just days after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted Trump and 18 others for their election meddling in Georgia.

The results show a marked uptick in seeing Trump stand trial before the 2024 election—demonstrating the severity and magnitude of the latest charges and complicating the former president’s insistent claims that criminal indictments only boost his political prospects. In June, a Politico/Ipsos poll asked a similar scheduling question after Trump’s classified documents indictment in Florida, and fewer than half of independents said they wanted to see a trial before the election.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan held a scheduling hearing on the federal case. Smith’s office requested a January 2, 2024 trial date, while Trump’s lawyers are asked that the trial the scheduled in 2026. Stating that she disagreed with both dates, Chutkan instead scheduled the trial to begin on March 4, 2024.

The poll also provides a window into how Trump’s response to his various indictments may—or may not—be landing with voters. Despite the former president’s cries of “corruption” in the cases against him, more poll respondents said they believed Trump had weaponized the legal system than President Biden.

More than half of respondents—including 56% of independents—said the Trump DOJ had improperly investigated political opponents. Asked about the behavior of various players in the criminal cases, respondents gave Trump the worst favorability rating of all: net negative by 31 points.

The DOJ and Smith came out with net favorable ratings, while Attorney General Merrick Garland notched an even split.

Additionally, the poll also shows a marked lack of public knowledge about the case, with between roughly one-quarter and one-third of the respondents reporting that they do not understand the charges very well. As the cases unfold and new information becomes public, Trump’s numbers might considerably worsen.

As for what voters would like the outcome of the cases to be, half of the poll’s respondents said they thought Trump should go to prison if convicted in the DOJ’s January 6 case. That number included 51% of Independents.

Research contact: @VanityFair