New Poll Shows 64% Of Voters Think Trump Committed Crimes Before Becoming President

A new Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday reveals nearly two-thirds of registered voters believe President Donald Trump committed crimes before taking office.

The survey found 64% of Americans think Trump committed crimes prior to becoming president and 45% say they believe he has performed illegal work during his time in office.

The Quinnipiac poll also shows 59% of voters do not think Congress should move to impeach Trump, while 35% think impeachment proceedings should begin.

Trump remains widely popular among Republican voters despite the many investigations surrounding him, and boasts approval ratings higher than 40%. According to the survey, 89% of Democrats and 65% of independents believe the president performed illegal acts before taking office. In total, 43% of all respondents said they don’t believe Trump has committed any crimes as president.

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The survey follows the congressional testimony from Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen, who exposed a history of illicit activity he engaged in at the orders of the former Apprentice star. Cohen revealed Trump ordered him to lie to and threaten multiple people over the last 12 years about a number of controversies. Cohen presented, among other things, copies of checks to prove Trump directed him to pay hush money to his former mistresses like porn star Stormy Daniels. Cohen also alleged he and Trump coordinated with the tabloid The National Enquirer to kill negative stories about the real estate mogul. The Quinnipiac poll found 73% of Americans believe paying to hide a damaging report about a presidential candidate without a disclosure is unethical. More than half of respondents who said this were Republicans. In total, 21% said doing this was unethical but not criminal, while 20% said they didn’t consider killing negative stories to be unethical at all.

Respondents were also asked if they believe Trump or Cohen more, and the poll found 50% of voters trusted Cohen, while 35% said they trusted the president more.

The Quinnipiac poll was conducted March 1-4 among 1,120 voters. The results hold a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.