Most likely voters believe Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was involved in his son's foreign business deals, according to a Monday Rasmussen poll.
The survey found that 54 percent of likely voters believe that Joe Biden likely was "consulted about and perhaps even profited in" Hunter Biden's foreign involvement in a Chinese company. Only 38 percent of respondents said it was unlikely the former vice president knew about his son's affairs abroad.
The poll comes just days after one of Hunter Biden's former business partners alleged that Joe Biden was privy to discussions in 2017 regarding his son's dealings with CEFC China Energy Co., a Chinese oil company.
Ninety-five percent of President Donald Trump's supporters believe it's likely the elder Biden was at least informed of his son's business ventures, compared with just 15 percent of Biden supporters. The report also found that 35 percent of likely voters believe Joe Biden is "less ethical" than most politicians, compared with 33 percent of respondents who believe he is more ethical. And while 45 percent of white respondents believe Joe Biden was involved in his son's business dealings, more than half of black respondents also said it was "very likely" that the former vice president knew about Hunter Biden's work abroad.
The results were consistent for each age and racial demographic group identified by Rasmussen.
BREAKING: Most Likely Voters say Joe Biden consulted about & perhaps profited from his son Hunter's overseas business deals including at least one involving a company in mainland China.
Majority of every demographic group - except one - agrees.
Marked crosstabs & story below https://t.co/RdHDe2AMKd pic.twitter.com/fhIqilLKRs
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) October 26, 2020
In addition to recent allegations that the elder Biden knew about his son's overseas business deals, the New York Post uncovered an email exchange from 2014 in which the younger Biden appeared to use his clout to increase his salary at Burisma, one of Ukraine's largest natural gas companies. He's also profited from dealings in other countries, including China and Kazakhstan.
A State Department official testified last year that he warned Joe Biden about his son's role in Burisma in 2015, saying the younger Biden's work there looked "terrible" for the Obama administration.
The Post's sweep of a hard drive—believed to be a copy from Hunter Biden's laptop—also discovered photos of Hunter Biden smoking a crackpipe and, allegedly, child pornography. Evidence of the latter has been sent to the FBI for investigation.
Joe Biden has denied all involvement in his son's business dealings.