No leniency for Hunter! Shock poll shows voters want President Biden to stay out of son's trial

Voters by huge margins want President Joe Biden to keep his hands off the gun and tax-dodging trials of his son, Hunter, a DailyMail.com/TIPP poll shows.

Fully 67 percent of respondents said the president should not pardon his 54-year-old child, whose historic trial began in a federal court in Delaware on Monday.

Only a fifth of respondents said Biden should reprieve his son; and 13 percent said they were not sure.

The results come as Hunter became the first child of a sitting president to face a criminal trial.

He's pleaded not guilty to three felony charges stemming from his purchase and possession of a revolver in 2018 — a dark period in his life marked by crack cocaine, prostitutes and foreign business deals.

Voters overwhelmingly say president Biden should not wipe away any guilty verdicts against his son  

Hunter Biden (L), son of US President Joe Biden, and his wife Melissa Cohen Biden (R) arrive for jury selection on the first day of his federal gun trial, at the US Federal District Court in Wilmington, Delaware

The trial in Wilmington, with US District Judge Maryellen Noreika presiding, begins with the jury selection process.

Hunter also faces federal tax charges brought separately in California.

The courtroom drama comes days after former President Donald Trump was convicted in his New York hush money case.

US presidents have broad powers to pardon people for criminal offenses, but scholars say they should use the system carefully, as it is open to abuse.

The White House said last year that Biden would not pardon Hunter Biden if he is convicted.

Still, the president has made little attempt to distance himself from Hunter in recent weeks.

They've been seen together at a White House state dinner, at church, and cycling along a beach in Delaware.

The president says he won't comment on the trial, but that as a dad he has 'boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength.'

'I am the President, but I am also a Dad,' he said.

'Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today.'

Americans took to social media on Monday to post their concerns about whether Hunter was likely to get convicted — and whether his dad would give him a get-out-of-jail card afterward. 

The federal gun trial began with jury selection at the US Federal District Court in Wilmington, Delaware

Arizona resident Lori Prockish called the trial a 'joke and a waste of taxpayer money,' adding that the president would doubtless pardon his son in the event of a conviction.

Al Penwasser, an X user listed as a Virginia-based retired naval officer, said there was little doubt the president would pardon his offspring, adding that 'people have lost faith in the justice system.'

Our nationwide survey of 1,910 voters found that two thirds are against any such pardon.

Those aged over 45 years and white people object much more strongly to a presidential pardon.

There's also a partisan leaning. Fully 79 percent of Republican voters warn against pardoning Hunter, compared to 52 percent of Democrats.

Voters were split over whether the younger Biden could get a fair trial in Delaware.

While 44 percent of respondents said the proceedings would be even-handed, another 31 percent said they would not.

Another quarter of voters said they were not sure.

Americans aged 65 and above, white people, and Democratic voters were more likely to say Hunter would get a fair trial.

The survey has a +/-2.4 percent error margin. It was carried out in late May by TIPP, which is noted for the accuracy of its polls. 

Hunter Biden's trial gives Republicans a chance to shift attention away from the legal troubles of their likely nominee for this year's presidential election, Trump.

The case brought by US Special Counsel David Weiss, a Trump appointee, last September.

Voters are divided over whether the commander-in-chief's son can get a fair trial

Hunter Biden was charged with lying about his use of illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra .38-caliber revolver and with illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days in October 2018.

Weiss, who has investigated Hunter Biden since at least 2019, also brought the tax charges.

If convicted on all charges in the Delaware case, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though defendants generally receive shorter sentences.

Hunter Biden spent the weekend with his father in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with the pair biking and attending church together on Saturday.

Potential jurors will be screened for their ability to commit to serving the length of the trial, which is expected to run through the end of next week.

All 12 jurors must agree he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to convict.

The case is expected to center on Hunter's years-long crack cocaine use and addiction, which he has discussed publicly and which was a prominent part of his 2021 autobiography

He told Noreika at a hearing last year that he has been sober since the middle of 2019.

Prosecutors will seek to prove that Hunter Biden knew he was lying when he ticked the box for 'no' next to a question on a federal gun purchase form asking if he was an unlawful user of a controlled substance.

Prosecution lawyers revealed in court filings that they may use details gleaned from Hunter's phone and iCloud account, including photos of him smoking crack and messages with drug dealers.

A plea agreement that would have resolved the gun and tax charges without prison time collapsed last year after Noreika questioned the extent of the immunity it extended to Biden.

Congressional Republicans spent years in vain trying to find evidence of a corrupt link between Hunter's foreign business dealings, including work for Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and his father's political power.

With agencies.