Fewer than one in seven U.S. adults believe that politics wasn’t a factor in left-wing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s decision to indict Republican former president and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump.

A national CNN survey of adults (18+), conducted via text message from March 31-April 1 by SSRS, asked:

“How big a role, if at all, do you think politics played in the decision to indict Trump?”

Fully 76% said politics played a role, with more than half (52%) saying they believe it played a “major role.”

Regardless of sex, age, income, education or political affiliation, at least 75% of every demographic group – except Democrats – believe the decision to indict Trump was at least somewhat motivated by politics.

Only 14% said they think politics played “no role at all” in the decision to indict Trump, who was arraigned Tuesday on 34, predominately redundant, felony record-keeping charges.

Constitutional scholars, including liberal Harvard Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz and conservative commentator Mark Levin, have been condemning DA Bragg’s prosecution of Trump for being political-motivated, legally-unsupportable – and devastating to U.S. democracy.

U.S. adults were evenly split in their assessment of the effect of Trump’s indictment, with 31% saying it would strengthen U.S. democracy and 31% saying it would weaken it. And, while there was strong disagreement between Republicans and Democrats, Independents were evenly divided, at 27%.

Curiously, while 60% of all U.S. adults said they approve of the decision to indict Trump, only 37% said they believe Trump's actions regarding payments to Stormy Daniels were “illegal.”

Also, even though 76% of respondents think the indictment was at least somewhat politically motivated, just 35% approve of Republicans in Congress investigating DA Bragg’s handling of Trump’s case. Slightly more (38%) disapprove of a congressional investigation.