A CBS focus group found that more Americans are upset over Hillary Clinton’s email scandal than Donal Trump’s tax return issues, pollster Frank Luntz said Wednesday.
Luntz conducted a focus group that used dial testing during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate. Trump running mate Gov. Mike Pence (Ind.) and his Democratic counterpart Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) got heated during the debate when discussing Trump’s tax returns.
Trump has declined to release his tax returns until an audit of his finances is complete, but the New York Times got ahold of his 1995 income tax returns. The documents revealed that Trump claimed a $916 million dollar loss that legally allowed him to not pay federal income taxes for up to 18 years.
CBS host Gayle King asked Luntz to analyze the voters’ opinions of Trump’s tax returns during the debate.
"What we see is they are more upset over Hillary Clinton’s emails than they are of Trump’s tax returns, and this is something I did not know until this group," a surprised Luntz said.
"Nobody wants to pay taxes," Luntz added. "Taxpayers are fed up with the tax code."
Luntz also noted that Clinton’s private email server scandal will not go away. The FBI had investigated whether Clinton mishandled classified material over her server while serving as secretary of state. FBI Director James Comey ultimately recommended in July that the Justice Department not prosecute Clinton but said she was "extremely careless" with her email practices.
Clinton and Trump will face off again for the second presidential debate on Oct. 9 at Washington University in St. Louis.