Few Americans trust Secret Service to protect presidential candidates after Trump shooting: Poll

Few Americans trust the U.S. Secret Service to protect presidential candidates ahead of the November election, according to an Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center poll released Friday.

Only about three in ten Americans say they are “extremely” or “very confident” that “the Secret Service can keep presidential candidates safe from violence before the election.” seconds in the AP-NORC survey. United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned from his position on July 23 after evasive testimony before Congress about the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Republicans and independents were more concerned about the abilities of the US Secret Service than Democrats, with only 22% of Republicans and 21% of independents being “extremely” or “very confident” that the agency can protect candidates , according to the survey. Forty-three percent of Democrats had the same opinion.

According to the poll, only 36% of Americans are “extremely/very confident” that the US Department of Homeland Security will “conduct a full and fair investigation” into the attempt on Trump's life. Democrats were more confident than Republicans, with 52% and 21%, respectively.

A majority of Americans blame “political division in the US” for the assassination attempt, with 78 percent of respondents saying it contributed a “large amount or a moderate amount,” according to the poll. The Secret Service was the second most to blame, with 72% of respondents agreeing they were responsible.

Democrats were most likely to blame “the availability of guns,” with 81 percent answering as such, the poll found. Only 34% of Republicans and 52% of independents blamed guns for the shooting.

cheatle was replaced from acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe as questions continued to circulate about the Secret Service's security failures that day. Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, open fire with an AR-15 pattern rifle on Trump during his rally, killing Corey Comperatore, 50, and wounding two others.

The survey was conducted by NORC's Amerispeak panel at the University of Chicago. The survey polled 1,143 adults from July 25-29 with a margin of error of 4.1%.

The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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