A majority of Americans say they think President Joe Biden was involved in his son Hunter’s business dealings while he served as vice president to Barack Obama, according to a recent CNN poll conducted by Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS)
The CNN poll comes as the special counsel appointed to oversee the federal investigation into Hunter Biden, David Weiss, intends to seek a grand jury indictment against the president’s son by the end of September.
Hunter Biden has been the subject of a 5-year investigation and is facing a felony gun possession charge and misdemeanor tax charges after a plea deal that would have allowed him to avoid jail time fell through in late July.
Most of the survey respondents, 61 percent, say they think Biden had at least some involvement in Hunter’s business dealings, while 41 percent say they think he acted illegally, and 18 percent saying his actions were unethical but not illegal.
Almost 40 percent say they don’t believe Biden had any involvement in his son’s business dealings, and just 1 percent of respondents say they believe Biden was involved, but did not do anything wrong.
House Republicans, led by the Oversight Committee, have uncovered bank records showing the Biden family and their business associates received over $20 million from foreign sources during Biden’s vice presidency.
Hunter Biden’s ex-business partner Devon Archer testified before the Oversight Committee that Joe Biden was put on speakerphone over 20 times during Hunter’s business meetings in order to sell the Biden “brand.”
Amid these revelations, Biden has continued to deny any involvement with his son’s business dealings.
“The evidence continues to mount and today we saw Joe Biden has lied to the American people. He knew exactly who his son was getting those millions and millions of dollars of wires from, he spoke to them, and he spoke to them often,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a Fox interview in August.
[RELATED: Joe ‘Big Guy’ Biden in Room While Hunter Shook Down Chinese Businessman Henry Zhao: Whistleblower]
American’s opinions on then-Vice President Biden’s conduct are divided along partisan lines, with fewer than a third of Democrats believing Biden was involved in his son’s business, or that he has acted inappropriately regarding the investigation.
By comparison, 76 percent of Republican respondents say they think Biden acted illegally in regards to his son’s business dealings, and 90 percent say he behaved inappropriately regarding the Hunter Biden investigation.
While a majority of independents think Biden had some involvement in his son’s business dealings at 61 percent, fewer say his involvement broke the law — 39 percent.
That said, 52 percent of independents believe he has acted inappropriately regarding the investigation into his son.
The poll also revealed Americans may be losing confidence in Biden’s leadership and competence as president.
Sixty-seven percent of respondents say that they are not proud to have Biden as president, and 74 percent say that he does not have the stamina and sharpness to serve in the role effectively.
Almost half of registered voters, 46 percent, say that any Republican presidential nominee would be a better choice than Biden in 2024.
Despite two-thirds of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters saying it’s very or extremely likely that Biden will again be the party’s nominee in 2024, two-thirds also say that the Democratic Party should nominate someone other than Biden.
Among Democratic-aligned voters who say they would prefer to have someone other than Biden as the nominee in 2024, however, just 37 percent think he was involved in his son’s business dealings, and only 29 percent believe he has acted inappropriately regarding Hunter’s investigation.
The CNN poll was conducted Aug. 25-31 among a random national sample of 1,503 adults drawn from a probability-based panel.
