Half of Republicans say FBI acted irresponsibly after Mar-a-Lago raid, poll finds
More than half of Republican voters have taken the side of Donald Trump over the FBI following the search of his Palm Beach, Florida home last week, according to the results of a new poll made public on Thursday.
The two-day Reuters/Ipsos online survey of 1,005 people — 436 Democrats and 387 Republicans — found that 54 per cent of Republican respondents said the FBI and Department of Justice had “behaved irresponsibly” by searching Mr Trump’s home and office at Mar-a-Lago, the mansion turned private club where he spends most of his year.
By contrast, 71 per cent of Democrats and half of independents said the FBI and DOJ’s actions had been responsible. Only 23 per cent of Republicans said the agencies’ search of Mr Trump’s home had been responsible.
The search of Mr Trump’s home was carried out on 8 August as part of an investigation into the presence of highly classified materials which he removed from the White House before his term expired on 20 January 2021.
In the days since, FBI and Justice Department officials have reported that federal law enforcement agents are receiving increasing numbers of threats.
Mr Trump has long stoked distrust towards federal law enforcement as a way of deflecting from a series of investigations into his behaviour, both during and after his presidency. And Mr Trump’s supporters have shown few qualms about violence towards law enforcement, as evidenced by the multiple assaults on Capitol police committed during the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Mr Trump’s claims of persecution also inspired one of his supporters to attack a Cincinnati, Ohio FBI field office just three days after the search of his home.
According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 85 per cent of Americans say political violence is “unacceptable,” with just 12 per cent saying violence to achieve political goals is ok.
