A new YouGov survey on President Donald Trump’s legal cases finds that Republicans are less likely now than they were in November to say presidents should have legal immunity. Republicans are also less likely now than they were last year to say that wealthy and powerful defendants accused of crimes are likely to get a fair trial. The survey also asked about Americans’ perceptions of Trump’s trials, including the decision in the hush-money case in which Trump was found guilty of 34 felony charges related to falsifying business records.
Republicans are less likely than they were in November to say presidents should have legal immunity protecting them from being charged for any actions they have taken as president: 35% of Republicans say this, down from 49% in November. 19% of Americans — including 10% of Democrats — think presidents should have this immunity.
60% of Americans — including 83% of Democrats and 33% of Republicans — say presidents should not be immune to being charged for actions they have taken as president.
Three-quarters (75%) of Americans think it’s very or somewhat likely that an ordinary defendant accused of a crime gets a fair trial in the U.S. Republicans (84%) are more likely than Democrats (78%) to say this.
Americans are equally likely to expect a fair criminal trial for a wealthy and powerful defendant as for an ordinary defendant. 74% of Americans, including 76% of Republicans and 74% of Democrats, think it’s likely for a wealthy and powerful defendant accused of a crime to get a fair trial.
Fewer Americans (56%) think it’s likely that a former U.S. president accused of a crime would get a fair trial. 66% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans think this is likely.
Americans are equally likely to expect a fair criminal trial for a current U.S. president as for a former president. 54% of Americans — including 61% of Democrats and 48% of Republicans — say it’s likely that a current U.S. president accused of a crime would get a fair trial.
There has been a large increase in the shares of Republicans who say it’s very or somewhat likely that a wealthy and powerful defendant accused of a crime would get a fair trial in the U.S., from 45% in June 2024 — when Democrat Joe Biden was president — to 76% in May 2025. There has also been an increase since June 2024 in the share of Republicans who believe that an ordinary defendant accused of a crime is likely to get a fair trial: from 58% to 84% now.
46% of Americans think Trump is treated more leniently than other people by the criminal justice system; 28% think he’s treated more harshly. Among Republicans, 16% think he’s treated more leniently than other people and 57% think he’s treated more harshly. Among Democrats, 73% think he’s treated more leniently and 6% think he’s treated more harshly.
Only 7% of Americans think Trump should be treated more leniently than other people. 15% think he should be treated more harshly than other people; the majority (70%) of Americans say Trump should be treated like other people are treated. 61% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans say the criminal justice system should treat Trump as it treats other people.
Trump has been convicted of felony crimes. 44% of Americans say he has definitely committed crimes. 22% think he probably has, 11% think he probably has not committed any crimes and 11% say he definitely has not committed any crimes.
Democrats (77%) are much more likely than Republicans (11%) to say Trump has definitely committed crimes.
Most Americans (83%) say Trump will definitely not (39%) or probably not (44%) ever serve time in prison for any crime. Americans who believe he has definitely committed a crime are even less likely to expect prison time for Trump: 40% say he will definitely not ever serve time in prison and 50% say he probably won’t.
Majorities of Americans believe Trump definitely or probably committed crimes before he became president in 2017 (61% say he definitely or probably did during this time period) and during his first term as president (54%). About half think he committed crimes between his first and second terms as president (52%) and a similar share (49%) say the same about his second term as president so far.
Most Americans have heard about Trump being convicted of 34 charges in New York, including for falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer for payments made to an adult film actress: 48% have heard a lot about this and 38% have heard a little about it.
52% of Americans strongly or somewhat approve of the jury’s decision to convict Trump of 34 charges; 31% disapprove. Democrats (86%) are far more likely than Republicans (19%) to approve.
Only half (50%) of Americans believe Trump committed the crimes he was convicted of in the hush-money case. 27% say he did not, and the remaining 23% are unsure.
Earlier this year, Trump was given a sentence of an unconditional discharge for his conviction in the hush‑money case against him — meaning that while Trump's conviction stands, he will receive no additional penalties. 45% of Americans believe this decision was not harsh enough and 14% believe it was too harsh. 21% think it was about right.
77% of Democrats and 11% of Republicans believe this punishment was not harsh enough.
Related:
- After the Trump verdict, most Republicans say they're OK with having a criminal as president
- What Americans think of the charges against Donald Trump in four cases
- Snap poll: 50% of Americans approve of Trump's hush-money conviction
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted May 28 - 30, 2025 among 1,129 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
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