While President Donald Trump has not commented directly on the possibility of pardoning Paul Manafort, his attorney said this week the president had asked about the idea. | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images POLITICO/MORNING CONSULT POLL Poll: 6 in 10 oppose Manafort pardon

A clear majority of voters say it would be inappropriate for President Donald Trump to pardon Paul Manafort or Michael Cohen, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

Six-in-10 voters, 60 percent, say it would be inappropriate for the president to pardon Manafort, his former campaign chairman. Only 11 percent say a pardon for Manafort would be appropriate. The remaining 29 percent of voters have no opinion.


Even among self-identified Republican voters, a potential Manafort pardon is unpopular. Twice as many GOP voters call pardoning Manafort inappropriate (38 percent) as say it would be appropriate (20 percent).

While Trump has not commented directly on the possibility of a Manafort pardon, Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York mayor working as Trump’s attorney, said this week the president has asked his lawyers for their advice on the possibility of clemency for Manafort and other former aides ensnared in federal criminal investigations.

Trump, meanwhile, has spoken favorably of Manafort, even following his former campaign chairman’s convictions this week for tax evasion and bank fraud that could see the longtime GOP consultant serve more than a decade in prison. “I have great respect for what he’s done, in terms of what he’s going through,” Trump told Fox News Channel this week.

Those comments stand in contrast to what he’s said about Cohen following his former personal attorney’s guilty pleas this week. But the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll suggests a Cohen pardon would be met similarly by the public: Only 9 percent say it would be appropriate, while 62 percent say it would be inappropriate.

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On Tuesday — the same day as the Manafort verdict — Cohen pleaded guilty in a federal courthouse in New York to eight counts, including violating campaign-finance law in 2016 in his role as Trump’s personal attorney.

Both convictions came exactly 11 weeks before the critical midterm elections, but — at least initially — the polling suggests the developments won’t have a dramatic impact on the battle for control of Congress. Just 21 percent of voters say Manafort and Cohen will have a large impact on their midterm vote, while another 15 percent say it will have small impact. But 45 percent say the convictions will have no impact, and other 19 percent said they didn’t know if they would have an impact.

“The Manafort conviction and Cohen guilty plea have done little to change GOP voter opinions about the midterms and President Trump,” said Tyler Sinclair, Morning Consult's managing director. "Presently, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of Republicans say these developments have no impact at all on their vote in the midterm election.”

Democrats’ lead on the generic congressional ballot in the new poll — conducted this Thursday and Friday — is 8 percentage points, statistically unchanged from 9 points last week.

Still, the poll shows a number of dangers for Trump’s presidency in the wake of this week’s legal developments. A plurality of voters, 47 percent, agree that the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is a serious matter and should continue. Only 33 percent say it’s an effort to discredit Trump and should end.

Nearly half, 49 percent, think Trump has tried to impede the investigation, compared to only 34 percent who say he hasn’t.

And amid calls from some liberals — like megadonor and possible presidential candidate Tom Steyer — for Trump’s impeachment, voters are split on whether Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against Trump: 42 percent say it should, while the same percentage say it shouldn’t. Sixteen percent of voters don’t know if Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against Trump.

Other Democrats — like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — have tried to quash talk of Trump’s impeachment, arguing it could hurt the party at the ballot box. The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll is inconclusive: A combined 35 percent of voters say they would be much or somewhat more likely to support a candidate who called for impeaching the president, while 33 percent would be much or somewhat less likely to support a pro-impeachment candidate.

Asked whether they expect Democrats to impeach Trump if the party wins back the House this fall, a combined 63 percent say it is very or somewhat likely, far more than the 19 percent who say it is not likely Democrats would impeach Trump.

For his part, Trump has denied any wrongdoing and told Fox this week, “I don’t know how you can impeach somebody who’s done a great job.”

But only 41 percent of voters approve of Trump’s job performance, the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows, down a point from last week. The majority of voters, 55 percent, disapprove of Trump’s job performance.

While Democrats on Capitol Hill have tried to steer the conversation away from impeachment, a number of senators — including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee — have said the investigations into Trump and his associates should lead the Senate to delay consideration of Trump’s nominee for a vacant seat on the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh.

But just three-in-10 voters, 30 percent, support postponing the Kavanaugh hearings, which are set to begin September 4. A plurality, 47 percent, say the hearings should go ahead as scheduled.

Overall support for Kavanaugh’s nomination is tepid, however. A third, 33 percent, say he should be confirmed to the court, while 27 percent say the Senate should not confirm him. Roughly four-in-10 voters, 41 percent, have no opinion.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,564 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents — Toplines: https://politi.co/2LpnytH | Crosstabs: https://politi.co/2Ne4Ve4