The first poll out about President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter has found that people widely reject his action and that it may have sparked the beginning of Democratic anger at the failed presidency.
In a Napolitan News Service survey shared with Secrets on Thursday, just 30% of registered voters agreed with the expansive Biden pardon of Hunter. The majority, 62%, opposed the pardon, 41% “strongly.”
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Biden had repeatedly promised not to pardon his son, who has faced gun and tax charges. But he flip-flopped this week and made the pardon good for an 11-year span.
The president has said that he believed Hunter was unfairly targeted by prosecutors, a claim that echoed what President-elect Donald Trump has said about the weak cases he faced.
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But the public in the new survey had a different view of the Bidens. Some 54% disagreed with the president’s excuse. But on Trump, 46% did believe that the Justice Department unfairly targeted him while 42% disagreed.
Pollster Scott Rasmussen told Secrets that his poll also suggested that Democrats are reevaluating Biden, who currently sits at his lowest approval rating ever. The New York Times on Thursday, for example, slammed the pardon, calling it “a significant misstep that could leave lasting damage.”
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“In this hyper-partisan world, it’s stunning that only 52% of Democrats support the president’s pardon. This is just the beginning of partisan re-evaluation. I suspect the anger at Biden among Democrats is ready to bubble over. Over time, the party will come to believe that the only reason they lost in 2024 is because Biden selfishly tried to run for re-election,” Rasmussen said.
And, he added, “It’s also interesting to note that more voters think Trump was prosecuted unfairly than believe that about Hunter.”