Majorities of Americans believe both Donald Trump and Joe Biden inappropriately handled classified documents, but they were also more likely to view Trump's transgressions as a serious breach.
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 77% of Americans believe Trump mishandled documents along with 64% who say the same of Biden, but a 43% plurality believe Trump's actions were more grievous. Just 20% say Biden's actions were a more serious concern.
Campaign Action
Not surprisingly, partisanship colored the respondents’ views to some extent, but perhaps not as much as one might think. While 84% of Democrats say Trump's transgressions were more serious, a somewhat underwhelming 53% of Republicans say Biden's actions were more serious. It's as if even Republicans to some extent know Trump's behavior and unwillingness to cooperate with the Department of Justice was far more egregious.
The independent breakdown tells the real story, with 43% saying Trump's actions were more serious than Biden's; just 14% said Biden's actions were worse.
The poll was conducted Jan. 20-21, before Justice Department investigators discovered more classified documents at Biden's Delaware residence and before classified documents were discovered at former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home.
At this point, it would not be the least bit surprising to see more document mishandling disclosures from other ‘24 hopefuls who have worked in the federal government, such as former Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, or former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. So it’s quite possible this issue will continue to evolve in the minds of voters.
But the bottom line is Team Biden alerted the Justice Department about the classified documents, readily turned them over, and cooperated with an FBI search. Trump dragged his feet on the matter for roughly a year, lied to the Justice Department, and the FBI ultimately had to forcibly retrieve the documents by executing a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago residence.