A majority of Americans — including almost a quarter of self-described Republicans — say they back the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision this week to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot, according to a flash poll.
The online YouGov survey showed 54% of respondents either “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of the court’s ruling, while 35% said they either “strongly” or “somewhat” disapproved.
Another 12% said they were “not sure” how they felt.
Opinions of the decision broke down across partisan lines, with roughly 84% of Democrats backing it compared to just 24% of Republicans.
Nearly half of self-described independent voters (48%) approved of the ruling, while 35% said they disapproved.
The 4-3 ruling, handed down Tuesday evening, cited Section 3 of the Civil War-era Fourteenth Amendment, commonly known as the Insurrection Clause or Disqualification Clause, which bars those found to have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.
Democrat-appointed justices on the Centennial State’s highest court concluded that Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, “constituted overt, voluntary and direct participation in the insurrection” that unfolded that day.
That decision was automatically stayed until Jan. 4 to give Trump time to file an appeal to the US Supreme Court, which his team has already vowed to do.
When asked for a prediction about how the US Supreme Court will handle the Colorado ruling, 43% expected the high court to reverse it, compared to 23% who felt it would uphold the ruling, and 34% who were unsure, per the YouGov poll.
Following the Colorado ruling, Democratic politicians in the blue states of California and New York have openly questioned whether Trump should be on primary ballots there as well.
Similar challenges against Trump were rejected in Florida and New Hampshire, largely on jurisdictional or procedural grounds.
Last week, a court of appeals in Michigan opted not to eject Trump from the primary ballot.
Colorado’s 2024 GOP primary is slated to take place on March 5, 2024. Should the ruling stand, the state’s Republican Party has hinted at plans to shift to a caucus system rather than a primary.
The YouGov poll, conducted Wednesday, sampled 3,492 US adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Trump remains the odds-on favorite to win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and currently leads President Biden in most head-to-head general election polls.