Nearly half of Republicans say the country needs a president unconstrained by law, according to a new survey.

What You Need To Know

  • 46% of Republican voters in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll agreed "the country is in a crisis and needs a strong president who should be allowed to rule without too much interference from courts and Congress"

  • An equal number of Republicans disagreed with the statement, and the rest were unsure

  • 25% of Democrats agreed with the statement

  • Trump and Biden are tied with 35% support, according to the poll

Forty-six percent of Republicans in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday agreed that “the country is in a crisis and needs a strong president who should be allowed to rule without too much interference from courts and Congress.”

An equal number of Republicans disagreed with the statement, and the rest were unsure. Among Democrats, 25% agreed with the statement and 64% disagreed.

The poll comes two days after a lawyer for Donald Trump claimed a president is immune from prosecution for a political assassination while in office unless first impeached by the House and convicted in the Senate. 

According to numerous polls, Trump remains the frontrunner for the GOP nomination with less than a week to go before the Iowa caucuses and the first primary vote of the nominating season in New Hampshire Jan. 23.

The poll found significant overlap between respondents who agreed with the statement and those who plan to vote for Trump (47%). About a quarter (23%) of those who said they plan to vote for Biden agreed with the statement about the need for a strong president unburdened by courts or Congress.

The poll found Trump and Biden tied with 35% voter support. The remainder of those polled said they were unsure (8%), would vote for a different candidate (9%) or would not vote at all (13%).

If Trump is convicted, 43% of Republicans said they will still support him, compared with 28% who said they would not and 28% who are unsure. Among independents, 12% said they would support Trump if he is convicted, compared with 49% who said they would not and 35% who are unsure.

As House Republicans demand increased border security to avoid a federal government shutdown later this month, the poll found strong Republican support for a tougher stance on immigration policy in line with the Trump campaign. All of the GOP candidates have pushed for stronger border provisions. Among Republicans polled, 69% agreed that “illegal immigrants should be arrested and put in detention camps while awaiting deportation hearings” compared with 21% of Democrats.

The online Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted Jan. 3-9 with 4,677 U.S. adults. The margin of error was about 2 percentage points.