(Source: MIRS.news, Published 02/18/2025) Michigan voters overwhelmingly support a U.S. Constitutional amendment to subject presidents who commit crimes in office to prosecution like any other American, a new poll shows.  

The poll, commissioned by retired Public Policy Associates Chair Jeff Padden and conducted by EPIC-MRA, shows that almost four in five Michigan voters (78%) favor the amendment, and six in ten (59%) say they “strongly support” it.  

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that presidents are immune from prosecution for crimes committed in the course of their official duties.   

In the poll, 69% of the respondents opposed the ruling. A constitutional amendment is the only way to override it.  

Support for the constitutional amendment extended across Michigan regions, age groups and political proclivities. Substantial majorities of Republicans (63%), independents (77%), and Democrats (96%) expressed support.  

“Americans have always believed that no one, not even the president, is above the law,” said Padden, a longtime policy and political expert who served in the Michigan House of Representatives. “The court has turned that on its head, and Democrats, Republicans and independents support an amendment to fix it.”  

The question came from a Facebook post in which Padden disagreed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion that President Donald Trump, and all presidents, are provided immunity. To his surprise, two Facebook friends, who happen to be Trump supporters, agreed with him.  

Curious if the two were representative of Trump voters, in general, he called up his two old friends from EPIC-MRA -- Bernie Porn and John Cavanagh – and bought, from his own pocket, three questions for their upcoming statewide survey.  

As it turns out, the answer to his question when posed to 600 Michigan voters between Feb. 3-8 was “yes.”  

“It’s just remarkable,” Padden said. There are so many things that divide us as a country these days and here’s something we can all agree on. We should do something about that.”  

Constitutional amendments are rare -- only 17 have been ratified since the Bill of Rights -- and they have been ratified in as few as 100 days or as many as 200 years. Thirteen have taken fewer than two years to be ratified.   

But Padden says the polling results show that voters in one of the most purple states in the country want the immunity problem fixed. He hopes the poll will help elevate the issue and force members of Congress and candidates to take a public stand on this fundamental question about democracy and the rule of law.  

Padden stepped away as the chair of the PPA board at the beginning of the year. He retired from client work at the end of 2018.  

Prior to launching PPA in 1991, Padden served for 10 years as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1975 through 1984.  He was also deputy director of the Michigan Department of Commerce, small business policy advisor to the governor, and director of the Michigan Human Investment Project.  

He’s currently a board member for Voters Not Politicians, the group that brought the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission constitutional amendment to Michigan.