The conservative media has taken Hunter Biden coverage to the extreme. It seems that the New York Post and other right-leaning sources report on the exploits of Hunter Biden daily. The president’s son is indeed in legal jeopardy. He is under federal investigation and may be indicted for tax transgressions and allegedly lying on a federal form during a gun purchase. The “laptop from hell” has spawned a congressional probe into foreign payments to Hunter Biden.
But what do ordinary Americans think? A Fox News poll released March 29 has some answers on how seriously they take Hunter Biden and his legal quandary.
Hunter Biden: What Does the Poll Say?
Only 43 percent of respondents in the poll believe that Hunter Biden did something illegal during his business activity with China and Ukraine. That’s up from 37 percent of people who thought the same way in February. Thirty-three percent of those surveyed believe that the younger Biden did something unethical but not illegal, while 19 percent thought that Hunter did nothing seriously wrong.
Majority Believes Hunter Biden Did Not Break the Law
These are not overwhelming numbers if you think that Hunter should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. If you believe that what Hunter has been accused of is no big deal, you have a sizable portion of people who agree with you.
But the right-wing fascination with Hunter is not likely to end. The White House will continue to deny he did anything wrong. And many Americans may believe it is time to move on and have House Republicans address genuine policy problems that scream out for action rather than the past exploits of Hunter Biden.
Republicans Sense a Weakness
The GOP does not care. They have found a weak point for the Biden presidency, and they are not going to pull punches. The president has already been caught in at least one lie. Biden has claimed that no money transfers from a Chinese company to Hunter Biden have taken place while House Republicans point to bank records that have indeed shown wire transfers to the younger Biden, the president’s brother, and his daughter-in-law.
What if Americans do not care about this investigation? Donald Trump obviously has his troubles with the law having been indicted in connection to hush money payments to an adult video star. In the same Fox News poll, 45 percent of those who were questioned believe that Trump did something illegal with campaign finance laws. So, both the former president and the current president’s son have similar numbers when it comes to measuring the percentage of people who think the troubled pair have broken the law.
The GOP Will Keep Digging
That could change. The investigation into Hunter Biden could yield more legal paydirt. If the mainstream media started covering it as much as the conservative press is, polling numbers against Hunter Biden may go up. This would mean more Independents could pay attention and deliver negative opinions against the president’s son, especially if the elder Biden is implicated in the China imbroglio.
An official indictment of Hunter and a long prosecutorial period that ends in jail time for him could also change the public’s mind. But you will still see plenty of Democrats take his side or wish to move on from his legal quandary.
Hunter is still causing major problems for the White House. They say the House probe into him is a “rightwing conspiracy” and based on “inaccuracies and lies” but they know that the embarrassment for his father could continue into the 2024 re-election bid and this would be fodder for Republican fundraising, negative ads, and questions during presidential debates.
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Author Expertise and Experience:
Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.
