Poll: Only 22% of likely voters confident Biden is innocent of corruption allegations

By Casey Harper and Brett Rowland
The Center Square 

One-third of Americans say that President Joe Biden is guilty of corruption and should be impeached, including some Democrats, according to a new poll.

The Center Square Voter’s Voice Poll found that 34% of likely voters say “Joe Biden is guilty of corruption and should be impeached.” An additional 35% said it’s not clear if the president did anything wrong but that a Republican-led House investigation into the president should continue.

Among Democrats, 40% of those surveyed said that “Joe Biden is innocent” and that “the investigation should be stopped immediately.” But the same number of Democrats, 40%, said they're not clear about the allegations but the investigation should continue, and 9% said he is guilty and should be impeached. Another 8% said they were unsure either way.

The “true independents,” who are independents that made clear they do not lean to the right or left, are suspicious as well. The survey found 28% say Biden is guilty and another 35% are unsure and want the investigation to continue.

The results suggest House Republicans' ongoing impeachment inquiry has broad backing among Americans, even roughly half of Democrats.

That investigation has revealed a steady stream of evidence to back allegations that the Biden family and associates brought in more than $20 million from overseas entities in China, Russia, Ukraine and more.

House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who is helping lead the investigation, argues that the president’s son, Hunter Biden, used his father to make deals around the world.

To what degree the president was aware and involved is the center of the investigation now. Checks released by the committee show $240,000 from the Biden family to the president, though the reason for that payment remains unclear.

Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers testified that Biden’s Department of Justice improperly interfered in the investigation, preventing a search on the president's residence and delaying the investigation until the statute of limitations for one potential charge on Hunter Biden expired.

Hunter Biden also faces criminal tax and gun-related charges.

Democrats in Congress have said the investigation is a political stunt and Joe Biden himself has denied the allegations on multiple occasions.

The ongoing allegations may be partially to blame for the president’s struggling approval rating. The Center Square’s same poll found that 59% of surveyed likely voters disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president with 58% disapproving of the job he is doing handling the economy, a reliably key issue for voters.

The survey found that 21% of voters cited “government corruption” as a top 3 issue for them, higher than other issues like national security or health care access but lower in importance to voters than illegal immigration or economic issues.

The survey was conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights at the beginning of January querying 2,573 Americans, with a roughly even number of Democrats and Republicans.

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Prosecutors call Hunter Biden's vindictive prosecution claims 'absurd'

Federal prosecutors said Hunter Biden's claims that he is the victim of a vindictive prosecution in his Delaware gun case were "absurd."

President Joe Biden's son has cast himself as the victim in the case, blaming his father's political rivals and former President Donald Trump for his situation. Similar to Trump, Hunter Biden has continued to claim the government is out to get him for political reasons.

Prosecutors said those claims don't withstand scrutiny, especially with his father sitting in the White House. Prosecutors, led by special counsel David Weiss, summed up Hunter Biden's claims this way: "David C.Weiss, an experienced prosecutor who served as U.S. Attorney during the Obama-Biden Administration, was nominated by President Trump to remain U.S. Attorney in 2018 because he was his 'stalking horse,' ... and could be forced to bring charges at the behest of President Trump."

"Even though the defendant had not yet committed his gun crimes, somehow President Trump predicted that the defendant would, believed that Mr. Weiss was the best candidate to be his 'stalking horse,' and also foresaw that he would lose the election but could force Mr. Weiss to file unlawful charges later," prosecutors wrote. "Ignoring what the defendant refers to as telltale signs of vindictiveness during the investigation, President Biden asked Mr. Weiss to stay on as his U.S. Attorney, according to the defendant. Further ignoring the supposedly obvious vindictiveness, the Attorney General then appointed Mr. Weiss to serve as Special Counsel."

Not finished yet, prosecutors continued: "Stripped of its bluster, the defendant’s theory of vindictiveness is simply not credible."

But they weren't done.

"Left with the inconvenient truth of trying to explain how this could happen during the Biden Administration, the defendant suggests that evil motives are lurking deep within the Department of Justice and '[h]e is being punished for the perceived sins of his father – the sin of opposing Mr. Trump's election to the presidency."

Weiss's team summed it up thusly: "This theory is a fiction designed for a Hollywood script."

Weiss indicted Hunter Biden in September 2023 in federal court in Delaware on three counts tied to the possession of a gun while using drugs. Two of the counts involve allegations that he allegedly lied on a form attesting that he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver in October 2018. The third count alleges that he possessed a firearm while using illegal drugs.

In court filings this week, Weiss and his team have laid out more details about the evidence they plan to use against the president's son. 

Prosecutors revealed they had evidence beyond Hunter Biden's 2022 book: "Beautiful Things: A Memoir," which detailed his drug use at the time he owned the Colt Cobra revolver at the center of the charges. Investigators even found cocaine on the gun pouch.

"After the defendant’s then-girlfriend discovered and discarded his gun, and after he became aware that local authorities had seized his gun, speed loader, and ammunition, and after the defendant announced his awareness of a federal investigation of him in 2020, the defendant chose to author and sell a book in 2021 in which he made countless incriminating statements about his years-long drug usage, including during the time period he purchased and possessed the gun," prosecutors wrote. "He recounted his interaction with a drug dealer who pointed a gun at him during a drug deal before he decided to buy his own gun. Investigators also obtained messages from his Apple iCloud account in which he discussed buying thousands of dollars' worth of crack while also taking videos of himself weighing crack and smoking it. Furthermore, a chemist was able to confirm the presence of cocaine residue on the brown leather pouch in which defendant stored his firearm."

Hunter Biden's attorney has said Republican interference at the U.S. Department of Justice prompted the gun charges against President Biden's son.

Hunter Biden's previous plea deal on gun and tax fraud charges fell apart in July 2023 after last-minute disagreements over the degree to which Hunter Biden could face future charges for other alleged crimes still possibly under investigation. That plea deal revolved around alleged tax crimes and a single gun charge. The new indictment includes three separate charges related to Hunter's possession of the gun.

If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 10 years in prison on the first two counts and five years on the third count.