With news that a voluntary Justice Department search of President Biden's Delaware residence turned up more classified documents from when Biden was a Delaware senator, the effort to paint Biden's full cooperation as worse than Trump's year-plus long cavalcade of lies, mistruths, and efforts to illegally keep hundreds of documents is underway in our "liberal" press, and the latest polling is showing that it's working as intended.
Strong majorities of Americans believe that both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump acted inappropriately when it came to their handling of classified documents, but in weighing their severity, a plurality of the public believes Trump's actions were more serious, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.
Over three-quarters of the public, 77%, feel that Trump acted inappropriately in the way he handled classified files, while 64%, say the same of Biden. Condemnation expectedly aligns along party lines, with 96% of Democrats saying that Trump's handling of classified documents was not appropriate compared to 47% of Republicans.
More than eight in 10 independents (83%), believe that Trump's behavior was inappropriate, per the ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos' KnowledgePanel.
Reaction to Biden's actions on this matter similarly varies by party, with 89% of Republicans saying that Biden's handling of classified documents was not appropriate compared to 38% of Democrats and two-thirds of independents (66%).
Both Biden and Trump are under heavy scrutiny due to the discovery of classified files located amid personal items or in unsecured facilities, instead of housed at the National Archives where they belong, though there are key differences in each case.
Earlier this month, reports revealed that a small number of such documents were found in November at an office Biden kept in Washington, D.C. More documents have since been found in his Wilmington, Delaware, home.
The White House maintains that aides immediately contacted the Archives upon learning of the Biden documents and are cooperating fully with the Department of Justice. Trump, on the other hand, faces allegations from the DOJ of obstruction of justice, after his team allegedly left out key details and made multiple unfounded or false claims with investigators during initial efforts to retrieve classified documents stored in his Mar-a-Lago home.
Both now face special counsel investigations appointed by the Justice Department.
The poll was conducted before the Saturday revelation that DOJ investigators found additional classified documents after a consensual FBI search of Biden's Delaware home.
As a result, the Villagers have already declared Biden's 2024 run dead and buried, and are openly speculating on whether or not That Horrible Cackling Bitch Kamala Harris™ will even bother to run.
Republicans seem to think this is a plot to force Biden out of office and are counting the days before his resignation...after his inevitable impeachment.
A lot of people have decided that Biden and Harris are done.
I'm not one of them, of course. Biden followed the law.
Trump still hasn't.
That's the difference.