Plurality disapproves of Trump’s decision to commute Roger Stone prison sentence

Candice JaimungalSocial Media Contributor
July 15, 2020, 6:02 PM GMT+0

About two in five (43%) Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s decision to commute the 40-month prison sentence of his former campaign adviser, Roger Stone.

Stone was convicted of lying to Congress during an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election, witness tampering, and obstruction. The charges were brought during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. President Trump’s July 10 decision came just days before Stone was set to report to a federal correctional institution.

According to a recent Yahoo News/YouGov Poll, 43 percent of Americans disapprove of the president's decision to commute Stone’s prison sentence.

Three in four Democrats (75%) disapprove of President Trump’s decision, compared to 44 percent of Independents, and 10 percent of Republicans. About half of Republicans (54%) approve of the decision, compared to 28 percent of Independents, and 5 percent of Democrats.

Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden are particularly likely to disapprove of Trump’s decision. A vast majority (84%) of those who choose Biden in the trial heat against Trump say they disapprove of the president's decision to commute Stone’s prison sentence, compared to 7 percent of those who say they will vote for Trump in 2020. About two thirds (65 percent) of Trump supporters say they approve of the decision, compared to 3 percent of Biden supporters.

Responses vary slightly based on gender and age. Men (32%) are more likely than women (20%) to say they approve of President Trump’s decision. Americans over 65 are the most likely age demographic to say they approve of the decision (33%), especially when compared with 18-to 29-year-olds (22%).

See the toplines and crosstabs from this week’s Yahoo News/YouGov Poll

Methodology: The Yahoo! News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,504 US adult residents interviewed online between July 11-14, 2020. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US residents. The margin of error for the entire sample is approximately 3.2%.

Image: Getty

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