Most voters say it would not be appropriate for President Donald Trump to pardon either his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, or his ex-personal attorney, Michael Cohen, a new Politico/Morning Consult poll reveals.
Just 11 percent of the 1,564 registered voters polled said it would be appropriate to pardon Manafort, and only 9 percent find a pardon for Cohen appropriate, according to the poll released Friday.
Overall, 60 percent said it would be inappropriate to pardon Manafort, and 62 percent said a Cohen pardon would not be appropriate.
Among Republicans, 20 percent said a Manafort pardon would be appropriate, and 38 percent said it would be inappropriate.
However, most voters said the Manafort conviction and Cohen's guilty pleas will not have an impact on the 2018 midterm election:
- 21 percent said it will have a large impact;
- 15 percent, a small impact;
- 45 percent, no impact;
- 19 percent, don't know if it will have an impact.
The poll did show there are many dangers for Trump's presidency, with 47 percent agreeing that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is important and should go on, while 33 percent said it is being done to discredit Trump and should come to an end.
Another 49 percent said they think Trump has tried to hinder Mueller's probe, while 34 percent said he has not.
Voters are also split about whether Congress should start impeachment proceedings against Trump, with 42 percent saying they should start and 42 percent saying they should not.
The poll, which carried a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, also showed that 55 percent of voters disapprove of the president's job performance.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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