When Polls Suggested that Most Americans View the Business Dealings of Joe and Hunter Biden as 'Illegal'

A new poll from The Associated Press and NORC has found that most American adults think President Joe Biden's business dealings with his son, Hunter Biden, were either unethical or illegal. The results, published on Saturday, showed that 63% of U.S. adults believe Biden's handling of foreign business dealings with his son were unethical or illegal—33% said they were unethical, and 30% said they were illegal. Only 30% of respondents said that Biden did 'nothing wrong.'

It's also worth pointing out that there was a significant partisan divide in how people viewed Biden's actions. The AP-NORC poll found that Republicans were far more likely to say that President Biden acted illegally in his business relationship with Hunter Biden, with 65% expressing that viewpoint. In contrast, only 8% of Democrats said the same. Furthermore, the results showed that more Democrats (32%) than Republicans (31%) said they believe Biden acted 'unethically' but not 'illegally.' Meanwhile, 58% of the Democrats polled said that Biden has 'not done anything wrong' compared to just 3% of Republicans who took the same stance.

The poll sheds light on where Americans stand as far as the impeachment inquiry into President Biden's dealings is concerned. Despite the first hearing that was held in late January, there is still no concrete evidence that ties Biden directly to financial gains from Hunter Biden's business dealings, nor is there any proof that concrete policy decisions were made owing to these deals. When asked whether they approved of the impeachment inquiry, 65% of poll respondents said they either disapproved or were neutral on the matter; only 33% indicated support for the probe.

Again, there was a partisan divide—67% of Republicans said they backed the inquiry, while just 7% of Democrats expressed support. Similar percentages of Republicans (19%) and Democrats (21%) were neutral on the subject. Still, 44% of respondents said they hadn’t read or heard much about the inquiry, indicating that many Americans are still not highly aware of Biden's impeachment proceedings. 

According to The Hill, the impeachment inquiry faces long odds in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Other outlets like CNN have also reported that the impeachment effort lacks robust evidence and is seeing tepid public support so far.

As impeachment proceedings move forward, Biden maintains his dealings were above board, as per NBC News. However, the poll shows Republicans overwhelmingly view his actions as unethical or illegal. Without concrete proof of misconduct, Democrats remain largely unconvinced Biden did anything warranting impeachment.

In other words, Democrats likely see the probe as a partisan attack without justification, while Republicans believe Biden crossed ethical and legal boundaries. As more information comes to light, the poll provides insight into just how split American voters are on the impeachment proceedings of their current President. 

Editor's note: This article was originally published on October 21, 2023. It has since been updated.