64 percent of respondents believe that President Donald Trump committed crimes before he was elected, and 45 percent believe that he has while in office. | Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images White House Poll: 64 percent believe Trump committed crimes before presidency

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that Donald Trump committed crimes before he became president, according to a new Quinnipiac poll conducted after Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified to Congress.

Among those surveyed, 64 percent believe that the president committed crimes before he was elected, with 24 percent saying they don’t think he did.


Those polled were split on whether they believe Trump has committed crimes while in office: According to the poll, 45 percent believe the president has, while 43 percent say he hasn’t.

Cohen last week gave a high-profile public hearing to Congress in which he commented on the president’s personal character, as well as payments made to women to keep quiet about what they said were former affairs with Trump. Cohen also spoke to lawmakers behind closed doors for two other days last week and is expected to speak in another closed hearing on Wednesday.

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The hearings were ahead of Cohen’s three-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, campaign finance violations and other crimes.

When asked who they believe more, half of Americans — 50 percent — said they trust Cohen, while only 35 percent believe the president.

The majority of Americans, however, do not think that Congress should begin the process to impeach Trump. Only 35 percent say the process should begin, compared with 59 percent who say it shouldn’t.

House Democrats, now in the majority, have said that they will not begin talking about the impeachment process until after special counsel Robert Mueller’s report is released and depending on whether any wrongdoing is revealed.

Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,120 voters nationwide from March 1 to March 4. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.