Only about 2 in 10 Americans approve President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter after previously promising he would not, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
That discontent coincides with the bipartisan uproar in Washington caused by the president’s change of position. The poll found that a relatively small share of Americans “strongly approve” or “somewhat approve” of the pardon, which came after Biden’s youngest son was convicted on weapons and prosecutorial charges.
About half said they “strongly disapprove” or “somewhat disapprove,” and about 2 in 10 neither approve nor disapprove.
The Democratic president had repeatedly said he would not use his pardon power to benefit his family, and the White House continued to insist, even after the Republican Donald Trump’s electoral victory in Novemberthat Biden’s position had not changed, until it suddenly did.
“I know it’s not okay to believe politicians on what they say versus what they do, but he explicitly said, ‘I will not pardon my son,’” said Peter Prestia, a 59-year-old Republican from Woodland Park, New Jersey. , west of New York City, who said he strongly disagreed with the measure. “So, it’s just the fact that he went back on his word.”
In issuing a pardon on December 1, Biden argued that the Justice Department had presided over a “miscarriage of justice” in prosecuting his son. The president used language similar to that used by Trump to describe the criminal cases against him and his other legal problems.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was a decision Biden struggled with but made shortly before making the announcement, “because of how politicized these cases were” as well as “what his political opponents were trying to do.”
The poll found that about 4 in 10 Democrats approve of the pardon, while about 3 in 10 disapprove and about a quarter didn’t have an opinion or didn’t know enough to say so. The vast majority of Republicans and about half of independents held a negative opinion.
For some, it was easy to see that family took priority over politics.
“Do you have kids?” asked Robert Jenkins, a 63-year-old Democrat who runs a sawmill and gas station in Gallipolis, Ohio. ”Are you going to leave office and not pardon your son? I mean, to me it’s obvious.”
But Prestia, who is semi-retired from his job for a digital marketing conglomerate, said it would have been better for Biden not to make promises.
”He has the right to pardon whoever he wants. But he should have just kept his mouth shut, and he did because it was before the election, so it’s just a blatant lie,” Prestia said.
Despite the unpopularity of his decision, the president’s popularity has not changed significantly since before his party lost the White House to Trump. About 4 in 10 Americans “somewhat approve” or “strongly approve” of how Biden does his job as president, which is roughly where his popularity has been in AP-NORC polls since January 2022.
However, the pardon continues to have political consequences and has been criticized by Republicans and even some prominent Democrats.
Older adults are more likely than younger adults to approve of Biden pardoning their son, the poll found, although their support is not especially strong. About a third of those over 60 view it favorably, compared with about 2 in 10 adults under 60.
The age split is partially due to the fact that younger adults are more likely than older adults to say they neither approve nor disapprove of the pardon or that they don’t know enough to say so.
About 6 in 10 white adults disapprove of the pardon, compared with just under half of Hispanic adults and about 3 in 10 black adults. Relatively large shares of black and Hispanic Americans, about 3 in 10, were neutral, the survey found.
“Don’t say you’re going to do something and then take it back,” said Trinell Champ, 43, a Democrat from Nederland, Texas, who works in the home health industry and said she disapproved of the pardon. “In the end, all you have is your word.”
Champ, who is Black, voted for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris instead of Trump. “I had high hopes for her, but I wasn’t 100% sure,” she said.
Champ also said he doesn’t approve of how Biden is handling the presidency and thinks the country is headed in the wrong direction. “While he was in office, I felt like I didn’t really see much change,” he said.
“I just felt like everything stayed the same,” Champ said.
Overall, however, the pardon did not appear to be a determining factor in many Americans’ assessment of Biden’s job performance. The share of black Americans who approve of the way he is handling his job as president has declined slightly since October, but it is difficult to assess what role the pardon may have played.
Jenkins is also chairman of the Democratic Party in Gallia County, a heavily Republican area in southeastern Ohio. He said things haven’t been going well for his businesses, and while he approved of how Biden is handling the presidency, he believes the country is now headed in the wrong direction.
He said that’s partly because of Trump’s victory in the presidential race, but also because Biden made his decision to drop out of the race in July and endorse Harris when there wasn’t enough time for a more open primary that could have led to a strongest Democratic nominee.
“I know he’s in a tough spot, but damn, he took the wrong path,” Jenkins said of Biden. He said that if Biden had left office earlier and a nominee had emerged from 15 or 20 candidates, “I think we would have won with that. “Who knows?”
Prestia said he doesn’t approve of how Biden is handling the presidency but sees that the country is now on the right path because Trump is returning to the White House.
“Compared to Biden, he speaks his mind,” Prestia said.
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