2020 polls: Half of all Americans want Trump criminally investigated after presidency, Independent poll finds

Donald Trump is gearing up to “beat off” state and federal probes based in New York City of his finances, business dealings and family, investigations nearly half of Americans support, according to an exclusive new poll.

“I had to beat off the phony Mueller Report, I had to beat off all this stuff. I had to beat off impeachment. I had to beat off Congress, everything else,” Mr Trump told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh earlier this month.

“They then send it to New York, which is all political,” he said of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller deferring some parts of his 2016 Russia election meddling probe to the Justice Department’s Southern District of New York.

“It's the same stuff, they send to New York, have to beat that off, you know, they've got New York all over,” the president said without elaborating on anything he might have a hunch federal prosecutors are looking into.

“They don't stop,” Mr Trump roared. “This is a disgrace.”

Almost half of Americans disagree.

Forty-nine percent of respondents said they believe Mr Trump should be criminally investigated once he leaves office for crimes he might have committed while in office, according to a JL Partners-Independent poll.

But some legal experts have said it appears state and federal prosecutors also are looking at his pre-White House activities.

Meantime, nearly half of voters have concerns about the $400m in debts a recent report, citing tax documents, alleges the president owes.

Forty-six per cent of respondents told JL Partners and The Independent they harbor worries about the money the president allegedly owes.

Of that amount, $300m of that debt would come due during a potential Trump second term.

In other national and battleground surveys, Mr Trump appears to have weathered an initial storm stemming from the publication of more of his financial records than had previously been made public.

His deficit across the country has not grown in a few weeks, and he is closing ground on Mr Biden in some battleground states, even if narrowly. But he is not losing ground in the six or eight swing states experts say will decide the election.

As voters fret, the president continues dismissing the Time report as an incomplete portion of his full financial picture.

"I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits," the president tweeted. "I am extremely under leveraged – I have very little debt compared to the value of assets."