Poll: 42 percent of Trump voters say it's OK for Trump to use private email server

Twitter reacts to a Public Policy poll stating that 42 percent of Trump voters think it's OK for President Trump to use a private email server. Twitter reacts to a Public Policy poll stating that 42 percent of Trump voters think it's OK for President Trump to use a private email server. Photo: Twitter Screen Grab Photo: Twitter Screen Grab Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Poll: 42 percent of Trump voters say it's OK for Trump to use private email server 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

A new poll claims a notable number of Trump voters think it's acceptable for President Trump to use a private email server.

The results reveal specifically that "42% of Trump voters think he should be allowed to have a private email server to just 39% who think he shouldn't be allowed to." The remaining 19 percent are unsure.

Some might take this information with a grain of salt as the poll was conducted Public Policy Polling, a North Carolina–based firm known for polling Democratic candidates and posing unusual questions such as this: "Do you believe President Obama would be eligible to enter heaven in the event of the Rapture?"

Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight questioned Public Policy's methods shortly after the recent election and wrote the pollster is especially guilty of employing a practice known as "herding," producing results that match other polls.

But even if the numbers are skewed, some Trump supporters apparently see no problem with the president operating in a way that many felt disqualified his General Election opponent.

Trump and his supporters hammered Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for using a private email server in her role as Secretary of State. It's why President Trump said repeatedly on the campaign that Clinton should be thrown in jail.

"I've read so much about her emails, and I have to say she's guilty as hell," Trump told a cheering crowd at a campaign rally in San Jose in June. "The fact that she's allowed to participate in this race is a disgrace to the U.S.A."

The results come as Newsweek reports that Senior Trump Administration officials had "active accounts" on a Republican National Committee until Wednesday. As the magazine points out, using the RNC servers is not illegal, though the system is the same involved in a Bush Administration controversy surrounding millions of lost emails.

Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that Trump himself is continuing to use an unsecured smartphone for his social media postings despite objections from his staff.

Many saw the irony in the poll results and took to shared their bewilderment on Twitter.

"I'm literally as a loss for words," wrote @Sassycatz.

"You're kidding me. What % of Trump supporters think Clinton should be punished for the email server?" shared @NotGbo. (For more Twitter reactions see the gallery above.)

Public Policy polling analyst Jim Williams wasn't surprised. "Something we found throughout the campaign is that Trump can do no wrong in the eyes of his supporters," Williams said. "They don't see hypocrisy in Donald Trump doing something that Hillary did that was viewed as wrong because they trust him."

Story updated Jan. 27, 2017, at 1:07 p.m. PST.