69 percent of Americans don't think Trump should have to sell his businesses

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last updated 8 December 2016

While two-thirds of Americans think President-elect Donald Trump needs to draw a clear line between his business and his presidential duties, most don't think he needs to resort to selling his business to do so. A Bloomberg Politics poll released Wednesday revealed that 69 percent of Americans "believe it goes too far to force him and his family to sell their business empire to avoid conflicts of interest." Only 26 percent think Trump should sell his business.

Many experts, however, think Trump needs to do more than just hand his business over to his children if he wants to steer clear of potential conflicts of interest. In an editorial published last month, The Wall Street Journal argued Trump's should "liquidate his stake" in the Trump organization, otherwise "political damage to a new administration could be extensive." Bloomberg View editor Tim O'Brien also made the case for why Trump should sell his business — a move O'Brien argued would be surprisingly easy to make.

At this point, 51 percent of Americans say they're confident Trump will "put the nation's best interests ahead of his family's finances when he deals with foreign leaders." Trump is planning a Dec. 15 news conference to discuss the topic, and he's already indicated on Twitter that he'll be leaving his "great business in total" to focus on being commander-in-chief, though selling doesn't seem to be part of the plan.