Americans are overwhelmingly skeptical of Donald Trump‘s handling of information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. In a new UMass Amherst national poll, 70 percent of respondents said Trump is not handling the Epstein case well, while only 18 percent said he is.
Among respondents who were aware of Epstein, the deceased billionaire and convicted sex offender, 63 percent agreed that the Trump administration “is hiding important information” about the case. Of those who said the administration is hiding information, a staggering 81 percent blamed Trump for it. Others in Trump’s orbit also received blame, including Attorney General Pam Bondi (59 percent), FBI Director Kash Patel (49 percent), and House Speaker Mike Johnson (47 percent). Just 16 percent blamed Democrats in Congress.
The president’s overall approval rating also took a dive to 38 percent, down six points since April.
This new data seems to back up reports that Trump has lost significant ground with his MAGA base over the Epstein issue. He came to power in part because his followers believed he would root out corruption and the deep state. But as news continues to break about his yearslong friendship with Epstein amid reports that Trump is named multiple times in the files, the president’s credibility is fading. Fifty-nine percent of poll respondents aware of Epstein said they believe he and Trump were “once good friends.”
Trump isn’t helping himself either. He complained last week that Epstein “stole” one of his victims from her job at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property. And the Bureau of Prisons under Trump recently transferred Epstein’s longtime partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, to a lower-security facility after she met with Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. Her move to a less strict prison has drawn scrutiny, considering Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.
When asked about what Maxwell and Blanche discussed, Trump said he thought Blanche “just wants to make sure that innocent people aren’t hurt” in case the Epstein documents are released. The administration, seeking to quell discontent and citing “abundant public interest,” has asked two judges to release grand jury testimony from hearings to indict of Maxwell and Epstein on sex-trafficking charges. But the administration is still facing pressure to release other documents the Justice Department possesses related to the case.
Despite the administration’s claims that no list of Epstein clients exists, 70 percent of poll respondents said they believe there is such a list. Attorney General Pam Bondi released a memo last month announcing that following an “exhaustive review,” DOJ officials decided there was not evidence of an “incriminating ‘client list.’” That’s despite Bondi herself saying in February that the list was “sitting on my desk right now to review” when asked about it on Fox News.
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Trump, growing frustrated with his supporters criticizing him over Epstein, lashed out in a post on Truth Social last month: “[Democrats’] new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker… Let those weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work,” he wrote. “Don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore.”
Tatishe Nteta, director of the UMass Poll, tells Rolling Stone, “What was once a discussion held on the fringes of American politics has in recent weeks become center stage, with stories concerning Epstein garnering immense coverage in newspapers and cable news programs. Americans have been paying attention as a whopping 96 percent of Americans have read, seen, or heard something about Jeffrey Epstein.”
He adds, “Given the widespread belief that President Trump has mishandled the release of information in this case and that the Trump administration is hiding information pertaining to the Epstein case, this controversy has the potential to do untold damage to the MAGA movement and a Republican Party already facing an uphill battle in the 2025 and 2026 midterm elections.”
A Republican strategist familiar with Trump’s political operation told NBC News last week that the Epstein issue could harm Republicans at the polls in 2026. “This is a major problem and could hurt turnout in the midterms,” the strategist said. “It signals betrayal to those who believed the president would expose the deep state. His team made promises, then doubled down.
“For the base that believes the deep state is real and that Epstein was part of it, this feels like the ultimate knife in the back,” the strategist added.
From Rolling Stone US
