Majority of independents say Trump received ‘fair trial’: Poll

Most independents say former President Trump received a fair trial in the New York hush money criminal case, in a new poll taken in the days after he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal potentially damaging information ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

In a CBS News/YouGov poll published Sunday, 54 percent of independents say Trump received a fair trial, while 46 percent of independents say it was unfair. They were asked to assess the fairness of the trial, “regardless of how you feel about the verdict.”

Overall, most U.S. adults (56 percent) similarly say Trump got a fair trial, while 44 percent say he did not.

On whether the jury reached the right or wrong verdict by convicting Trump, responses are similar: 57 percent of U.S. adults say the jury reached the right verdict, and 43 percent say the wrong verdict. Among independents, 56 percent say the jury reached the right verdict, while 44 percent say the wrong verdict.

There is a significant partisan split in responses. Almost all Democrats (96 percent) say Trump got a fair trial and say the jury reached the right decision, with only 4 percent calling the trial unfair and the verdict wrong.

Republicans are slightly more willing to call the trial unfair (86 percent) than call the verdict wrong (82 percent). Only 14 percent say the trial was fair, and 18 percent say the verdict was right.

The poll comes as the Republican establishment has railed against the verdict and smeared the trial as unfair and politically motivated, taking cues from the former president himself.

On Friday, Trump delivered his harshest condemnation of the trial’s judge, Judge Juan Merchan, calling him “the devil” and slamming the trial as “rigged” and “a scam.” Those remarks followed a fundraising appeal put out shortly after the verdict was delivered, in which the former president referred to himself as “a political prisoner.”

The CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted May 30-June 1, following the conclusion of Trump’s trial, and included 989 U.S. adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.