Only 2 in 10 Americans approve of President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter, after he previously promised he would do no such thing, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. do.
This outrage parallels the bipartisan uproar in Washington that erupted when the presidents came face to face. The poll found that a relatively small share of Americans “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of the pardon that came after the younger Biden was convicted on gun and tax charges.
About half said they “strongly” or “somewhat” disapprove, and about 2 in 10 neither approved nor disapproved.
The Democratic president has repeatedly said he would not use his pardon power to benefit his family, and the White House continued to insist that Biden’s position would continue even after Republican Donald Trump’s election victory in November. There has been no change – unless it happened suddenly.
“I know it’s not right to believe what politicians say rather than what they say,” said Republican Peter Prestia, 59, of Woodland, “but he said clearly, ‘I will not forgive my son. ” Park, New Jersey, just west of New York City, who said he strongly disagrees with the move. “So, it’s just the fact that he went back on his words.”
Issuing an apology on December 1, Biden argued that the Justice Department had committed a “miscarriage of justice” in prosecuting his son. The president used some of the same language as Trump to describe the criminal cases against him and his other legal difficulties.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was a decision Biden struggled with, but he made the decision shortly before making the announcement “because of how politically charged these cases were” as well. “What his political rivals were trying to do.” ,
The poll found that about 4 in 10 Democrats approve of clemency, while about 3 in 10 disapprove and about one-quarter had no opinion or didn’t know enough to say.
Most Republicans and about half of independents had a negative opinion.
For some it was easy to see family taking priority over politics.
“Do you have children?” asked Robert Jenkins, a 63-year-old Democrat who runs a lumber yard and gas station in Gallipolis, Ohio. “You’re going to leave office and not forgive your child? I mean, it’s no big deal to me.”
But Prestia, who is semi-retired from working for a digital marketing group, said Biden would have been better off not making promises.
“He has the right to pardon whoever he wants. But they should have just kept their mouth shut, and they did that because it was before the election, so it’s just a bold lie,” Prestia said.
Despite the unpopularity of his decision, the president’s approval ratings have not changed meaningfully since his party lost the White House to Trump. About 4 in 10 Americans “somewhat” or “strongly” approve of the way Biden is handling his job as president, which is roughly his approval rating in AP-NORC polls through January 2022 .
Still, the pardon is causing political shock waves, with Republicans and even some top Democrats condemning it.
Older adults are more likely than young people to approve of Biden pardoning his son, according to the poll, although their support is not particularly strong. About one-third of people age 60 and older approve, while about 2 in 10 adults under 60 disapprove.
The age divide is partly driven by the fact that young adults are more likely than older people to say they neither accept nor reject forgiveness or that they don’t say it enough. Know.
About 6 in 10 white adults disapprove of clemency, while less than half of Hispanic adults and about 3 in 10 black adults disapprove of clemency. The survey found that relatively large shares of black and Hispanic Americans – about 3 in 10 – were neutral.
“Don’t say you’re going to do something and then back out,” said Trinelle Champ, a 43-year-old Democrat from Nederland, Texas, who works in the home health industry. He said he rejected the pardon. “At the end of the day, you only have your word.”
Champion, who is Black, voted for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris rather than Trump. “I had high hopes for it, but I wasn’t 100% positive,” she said.
Champ also said she doesn’t approve of the way Biden is handling the presidency and thinks the country is on the wrong path. “When he was in office, I felt like I didn’t really see a lot of changes,” he said.
“I felt like everything stayed the same,” Champ said.
Overall, however, the pardon did not appear to be a driving factor in many Americans’ assessments of Biden’s job performance. The share of Black Americans who approve of the way he handled his job as president has declined slightly since October, but it is hard to assess what role the pardon may have played.
Jenkins is also chairman of the Democratic Party in Gallia County, a strongly Republican area in southeast Ohio. He said things are not going well for his business and although he approves of Biden taking over the presidency, he believes the country is now on the wrong path.
He said that’s partly due to Trump’s victory in the presidential race, but also because Biden decided to leave the race and endorse Harris in July, when there was ample time for a more open primary process. There was no reason for this situation to arise. Strong Democratic candidate.
“I know he’s in a place there, but my God, he got on the wrong end,” Jenkins said of Biden. He said if Biden had dropped out earlier and one of the 15 or 20 candidates had emerged, “I think we would have won on that one.” Who knows?”
Prestia said he doesn’t approve of the way Biden is handling the presidency but thinks the country is on the right path now that Trump is returning to the White House.
“Compared to Biden, he means what he says,” Prestia said.
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