President Trump has declared that he has the “absolute” right to pardon himself.
Americans disagree.
By more than 3-1, 64 percent to 18 percent, those surveyed in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll say the president doesn’t have the power to pardon himself. Even Republicans are inclined to split with Trump on this. Just 29% say he has the power to pardon himself; 45% say he doesn’t.
Trying to do so could spark a constitutional crisis for the White House: 58 percent of Americans, including 31 percent of Republicans, say the House of Representatives should impeach the president if he pardons himself.
“If he has to have a presidential pardon for it, then he shouldn’t be president,” says Valeri Crankshaw, 57, of Hayward, California. She voted for Trump in 2016, but her admiration for him has waned since then. On everything from pardons to foreign policy, she said, “I think he’s trying to send a message to the world that he can and will do whatever he wants to do, and no one can stop him.”
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