Will Trump become the first ex-president in history to be convicted of a crime matter to voters? The surprising results from the latest poll
Former President Donald Trump made history Thursday by becoming the first ex-president ever to be convicted of a crime.
But polling data from NPR/PBS Nieuwsuur/Marist which dropped earlier in the day showed a common theme across party lines and demographics.
Voters are ambivalent about the outcome of the case.
Two-thirds of voters — 67 percent — told pollsters that a guilty outcome in Trump’s hush-money case would have no impact at all on their vote in the fall.
The group most likely to decide the fate of Trump and President Joe Biden — that of independents — cared even less.
On Thursday, former President Donald Trump became the first ex-president in US history to be convicted of a crime, as he is also his party’s presumptive 2024 presidential nominee.
NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist polling released earlier Thursday showed a common theme across party lines and demographics: that. the votes of most Americans would not change if Trump were found guilty
The survey found that 74 percent of independents said a guilty verdict would not change their vote.
That number is compared to 65 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans.
Additionally, 25 percent of Republicans responded that they would be more likely to vote for Trump if he were found guilty in the hush money case.
Late Thursday afternoon, a jury in Manhattan found Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying company records related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Overall, only 15 percent of voters said they would be more likely to vote for him if this outcome happened, while 17 percent said they would be less likely.
The Marist investigation was conducted from May 21 to 23, when the hush money trial was already underway.
Voters shrugged when asked whether Trump’s guilty plea would affect their vote in the general election, a survey released Thursday found
A previous PBS NewsHour/NPR, Maris pollwhich was released on May 1, also found the electorate largely disinterested in the process at the time.
In that survey, 55 percent of Americans said they paid little to no attention to the hush money process.
That poll also found that 45 percent of Americans said Trump’s investigations are unfair and designed to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.
In both surveys, Biden had a narrow lead over Trump nationally — 50 percent to 48 percent — which is within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percent.
However, recent swing state polls show Biden trailing Trump in a number of battleground states.