President Biden will soon be officially scrutinized by Congress for evidence he committed impeachable acts while serving as Barack Obama's vice president and possibly after. But even before that investigation begins, a plurality of voters already don't believe Biden's repeated denials of involvement in son Hunter's far-flung business affairs, the I&I/TIPP Poll found.
"How honest has Biden been about his involvement in the business dealings of his son Hunter Biden with foreign entities?" the national online I&I/TIPP Poll asked 1,351 Americans from Aug. 30-Sept. 1. The poll has a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points.
The response will likely give little comfort to either Biden or the Democratic Party at large.
Among those responding, 48% called Biden either "not very honest" (14%) or "not at all honest" about his business dealings with Hunter, compared to the 36% who believed Joe Biden has been either "very honest" (19%) or "somewhat honest" (17%). Another 15% said they were "not sure."
As might be expected for such a hot-button question, the political schism on the answers was very large. Just 16% of Democrats responded Biden was "not very honest" or "not at all honest." That compares with 85% of Republicans and 53% of independents.
Meanwhile, just 10% of GOP followers and 22% of independents described Biden as honest when it comes to his business affairs, versus 68% of Democrats.
Similarly, by ideology, conservatives (71%) and moderates (50%) see Biden as dishonest. Liberals (73%) view Biden as honest.
So, outside of his own party, it's fair to say that Biden is widely viewed as having falsely responded to repeated questions of his ties to son Hunter's millions of dollars of business deals.
But there are other differences as well. Race, for one. Only 33% of blacks and hispanics characterized Biden as "not honest," compared to 55% of whites.
Income was also a perhaps surprising difference. Adding up all the data for the income three income classes earning less than $75,000 a year, and you find 52% view Biden as not honest. But for those earning more than that, it's only 36%.
And parental status seems to strongly determine how Biden is viewed on this poll question. Among those who self-identify as parents in the poll, just 37% said they felt Biden was "not honest," as measured against 52% of nonparents.
So how honest has Biden been? Right now, evidence is piling up that the president has, at best, shaded the truth, and at worst, outright lied about his ties to Hunter's many foreign business dealings.
Compiled mainly by non-mainstream media outlets, the evidence that Biden and his family profited off his government positions appears convincing, if not outright damning.
The main issue, of course, has been Biden's steadfast claim to have kept himself out of son Hunter's business affairs. The evidence is abundant he didn't.
Here are just a couple of examples of the evidence that has emerged:
In 2014, the Ukrainian energy giant Burisma strangely put Hunter Biden, who had little to no energy experience or deep familiarity with Ukraine, on its board of directors at a cool $1 million annual salary.
As Rich Lowry recently described what happened, "Shortly after Hunter joined, the CFO of Burisma, Vadym Pozharsky, sent an email requesting that he and his business partner, Devon Archer, 'use your influence' (they don’t call it influence-peddling for nothing) to bring a halt to the investigation into Zlochevsky (Burisma's founder) and Burisma."
Not long after, Pozharsky, feeling threatened following the collapse of the government of Viktor Yanukovych during the so-called Maidan Revolution, called on Hunter: "Can you ring your dad?," he asked.
Hunter did. Not coincidentally, his father later threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine unless the government fired the prosecutor who was then pursuing Burisma. The government did so. Joe Biden would later brag about forcing the government to back down.
The corruption didn't end there. Just two months ago, Archer testified to Congress that "Joe Biden was 'The Brand' and was used to send “signals” of power, access, and influence to enrich the Biden family from foreign sources," wrote the American Insider.
Indeed, the House Oversight Committee has found what it claims are 22 separate pieces of evidence that Biden was involved in son Hunter's global business dealings, which was why it launched an impeachment investigation.
Just as troubling, Archer further told Congress that he was aware of at least 20 times that then-Vice President Biden spoke to Hunter's foreign business clients and partners via speakerphone.
"In February 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with oligarchs from Russia and Kazakhstan who funneled millions of dollars to Hunter Biden and his business associates," the committee report asserted, quoting sworn testimony.
These are but two of 22 pieces of significant evidence linking then-V.P. Biden to son Hunter's many business deals. To read them all at greater length, go here. The evidence strongly suggests that the alleged influence-scheme is not limited to Ukraine (cited above), but also includes Russia, China and others.
The House Oversight panel has "methodically investigated the corruption scandal for months and only now are moving to a heightened inquiry," according to Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law scholar who holds the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.
"The House has established a labyrinth of dozens of shell companies and accounts allegedly used to transfer millions of dollars to Biden family members. There is now undeniable evidence to support influence-peddling by Hunter Biden and some of his associates — with Joe Biden, to quote Hunter’s business partner Devon Archer, being 'the brand' they were selling."
And the amounts allegedly involved in the various Biden influence schemes aren't petty cash, but, rather, large sums.
“Bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden family members and associates through various shell companies,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, opening the impeachment inquiry on Sept. 13.
As the I&I/TIPP Poll clearly shows, despite reluctance by the big media to aggressively report on Biden's possible conflicts of interest and profiteering, just under half of all Americans think Biden hasn't been honest about his dealings with and through his son Hunter.
The coming battle in the House over whether Biden's transgressions are impeachable, coupled with 91 felony charges leveled against former President Donald Trump, will almost certainly determine who the next U.S. president will be: Biden, Trump, or some as yet unknown challenger.
I&I/TIPP publishes timely, unique, and informative data each month on topics of public interest. TIPP’s reputation for polling excellence comes from being the most accurate pollster for the past five presidential elections.
Terry Jones is an editor of Issues & Insights. His four decades of journalism experience include serving as national issues editor, economics editor, and editorial page editor for Investor’s Business Daily.
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