Only 22 Percent of Americans Back Biden’s Decision to Pardon Son, Poll

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The survey also found that 60 percent of participants disapproved of Biden’s handling of his presidency.

A recent poll showed that most Americans do not support President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, with only 22 percent of respondents expressing approval, while 18 percent remained neutral.

According to the poll, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research (AP-NORC), about half of the participants, or 51 percent, “somewhat or strongly disapprove” of Biden’s decision.

Democrats are more inclined to support the pardon, with 38 percent in favor, compared to just 7 percent of Republicans and 12 percent of independents supporting the move.

Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the president’s pardon of his son, with 80 percent expressing disapproval, as did 51 percent of independents and 27 percent of Democrats, the poll showed.

The survey also found that 60 percent of participants disapproved of Biden’s handling of his presidency, while 39 percent expressed approval. Roughly 27 percent of Democrats were unhappy with his performance.

Participants aged 45 and above were more supportive of Biden’s performance as president than those aged between 18 and 44, with approval scores of 45 percent and 32 percent, respectively.

The poll showed that participants aged 18 to 44 are more disapproving of the president’s performance than older participants, at 66 percent and 54 percent, respectively.

The poll was conducted from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9, with 1,251 Americans aged 18 and older participating nationwide. The margin of sampling error was 3.7 percentage points, according to an AP-NORC report outlining the findings.

Biden issued “a full and unconditional pardon” for his son on Dec. 1, sparing him from any penalties for offenses he “may have committed or taken part in” from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024.

In announcing the pardon, the outgoing president said he hoped that “Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”

Biden, whose presidency term is due to end next month, has argued that the tax evasion and federal gun charges brought against his son were influenced by political reasons.

“There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here,” Biden stated. “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice—and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further.”

Biden’s decision has drawn backlash from lawmakers of both parties, as it marked a reversal from his previous remarks that he would not use his presidential powers to pardon his son.

President-elect Donald Trump has called Biden’s pardon of his son an “abuse and miscarriage of justice.” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said the move will not only tarnish Biden’s reputation but also set a “bad precedent” that could be abused by future presidents.

The White House has defended Biden’s decision.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Dec. 2 that Biden had “wrestled” with issuing the pardon because he believes in the justice system but also thinks that “the war politics infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice.”

“Hunter was singled out, because his last name was Biden, because he was the president’s son. That’s what we saw. And so the president believed enough is enough, and the president took action. And he also believes that they tried to break his son in order to break him,” she later added.

Kristy Greenberg, a former official at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, said she believes Hunter Biden would not have been charged if it weren’t for his last name.

Hunter Biden said on Dec. 1 that he will not take the pardon for granted.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.