Poll: Voters have strong feelings about possible Clinton pardon

An overwhelming majority of voters do not support the idea of President Barack Obama issuing a pardon for Hillary Clinton for any crimes she may have committed related to her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

According to a recent Fox News poll, 68 percent of those surveyed said Obama should not excuse Clinton before he leaves office Jan. 20, while just 23 percent said the opposite. But specifically among those who say they voted for President-elect Donald Trump, the margin was much wider.

A whopping 87 percent of self-described Trump voters say the Republican nominee's Democratic challenger should not be pardoned while just 8 percent said she should receive a pardon. The overwhelming result was often manifest at Trump's campaign rallies — and even now after the election during his "thank you tour" — as supporters chant "lock her up."

During the campaign, Trump didn't discourage his supporters from saying he should jail his political opponent if elected, but the president-elect has taken on a much different tone since the campaign, saying he doesn't want to "hurt" the Clintons — and even calling them "good people."

Trump's softened approach toward Clinton and her email scandal seems to suggest he will not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the case if Obama does not pardon his former secretary of state before leaving office — the opposite of what he said during the Oct. 9 presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis.

"If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation," Trump said at the time, according to Politico. "People have been, their lives have been destroyed doing one-fifth of what you've done," he added.

The Fox News poll was conducted among 1,034 registered voters from across the country Dec. 11-13. The poll's margin of error is +/- three percentage points.

(H/T: Washington Examiner)