Nearly 75 percent of Americans want Donald Trump to release his tax returns, new poll finds

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump was adamant at his first press conference in months last week that "the only one that cares about my tax returns are the reporters," but a new ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 74 percent of respondents think he should release his tax records.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the respondents who most ardently believe Trump should release his tax returns are supporters of his vanquished election rival Hillary Clinton; 94 percent of Clinton supporters said Trump should make his tax returns public, compared to just 49 percent of Trump's own supporters. Of people who supported someone other than Trump or Clinton in the election — or who supported no one at all — 83 percent thought Trump should release his records.

Overall, 41 percent say they "care a lot" about the returns being released. When it comes to ethics, 43 percent said they think Trump, his family, and advisers are complying with federal ethics laws, while 44 percent think they aren't. Overall, 52 percent say his plan to continue owning his businesses while placing them in a trust managed by his eldest sons is sufficient, and 42 percent say he should sell his businesses.

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The poll was produced by Langer Research Associates, and the full results will be released Tuesday morning. It was conducted by landline and cellphone Jan. 12 to 15 among a random sampling of 1,005 adults. The results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points, with partisan divisions of 31-23-37 percent Democrats, Republicans, independents.

Editor's note: This article originally mischaracterized a portion of the poll's findings. It has since been corrected. We regret the error.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.