As President Donald Trump continues to be plagued by his past ties with Jeffrey Epstein, a new poll has found that a plurality of Republican voters now believe that Trump was aware of the disgraced financier’s crimes before they were made public, CNN reported Saturday.
Commissioned by Reuters and the market research firm Ipsos Group, the new poll asked 4,434 voters between Dec. 3 and Dec. 8 whether they believed Trump had advanced knowledge of Epstein’s crimes prior to the disgraced financier's first criminal conviction in 2008 for child prostitution.
In total, 60% of respondents said it was unlikely that Trump wasn’t aware of Epstein’s crimes before they were made public, compared to 18% that said they believed Trump was unaware. While the margin wasn’t as dramatic for Republican voters, more Republicans indicated that they believed Trump was aware of Epstein’s crimes than didn’t.
“Even among Republicans, slightly more felt Trump was probably aware (39%) than leaned toward him not knowing (34%),” CNN reported.
“Just to underscore the remarkable things these polls are telling us: Three-quarters of Americans suggested they remained open to the possibility that the president of the United States knew about or even engaged in crimes with a notorious pedophile. And even many Republicans thought he knew something about what Epstein was up to.”
Congress has reignited the controversy surrounding Trump over his past ties to Epstein after passing legislation that will require the Justice Department to publish all of its files it holds on Epstein by Dec. 19. House Democrats have also continued to draw attention to the controversy with its steady release of files from Epstein’s estate, the most recent being Friday, when they released several photos of Trump.