Democrats are experiencing a collective thrill up their legs over the current sham “hush money” trial Donald Trump is facing in New York, but do they have a political winner here? Is the public convinced that Trump did anything wrong?
According to a new AP-NORC poll, not really. “Only about one-third of U.S. adults say Trump did something illegal in the hush money case for which jury selection began Monday,” explains the Associated Press. “The poll found that 35% of Americans say Trump has done something illegal with regard to the hush money allegations. Slightly fewer, about 3 in 10, think he did something unethical without breaking the law. Fourteen percent think he did nothing wrong at all. Those numbers haven’t shifted meaningfully in the year since he was first charged in the case.”
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Ouch. The poll also found that “close to half think he did something illegal in the other three criminal cases pending against him,” which isn’t exactly a glowing endorsement of those cases either. Worse yet for the left, which is hellbent on convicting Trump for anything regardless of how silly the case, the poll found that voters are “fairly skeptical that Trump is getting a fair shake from the prosecutors in the case — or that the judge and jurors can be impartial in cases involving him.”
The problem for Trump is that despite the fact many acknowledge that Trump didn’t do anything wrong and that partisanship is driving the case, “half of Americans would consider Trump unfit to serve as president if he is convicted of falsifying business documents to cover up hush money payments to a woman who said he had an affair with her.”
While a New York jury will decide whether to convict Trump of felony charges, public opinion of the trial proceedings could hurt him politically. The poll suggests a conviction could hurt Trump’s campaign. Trump enters a rematch with President Joe Biden as the first presumptive nominee of a major party — and the first former president — to be under indictment. A verdict is expected in roughly six weeks, well before the Republican National Convention where he will accept the GOP nomination.
Trump has rather effectively used the partisan prosecutions against him — whether they’re from crusading district attorneys or the Biden administration — to benefit his campaign. Republican primary voters rallied behind him with each sham indictment.
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But will a conviction, even at the hands of a partisan jury and a corrupt legal system backfire on him, not the left? Even those who don’t like Trump seem to understand that the legal cases against him are political.
Yet, a cloud of doubt hangs over all the proceedings. Only about 3 in 10 Americans feel that any of the prosecutors who have brought charges against Trump are treating the former president fairly. And only about 2 in 10 Americans are extremely or very confident that the judges and jurors in the cases against him can be fair and impartial.
“It’s very obvious political persecution,” said Christopher Ruff, a 46-year-old political independent and museum curator from Sanford, North Carolina. “I’m no fan of Trump in any way, shape or form. Didn’t vote for him, never will. But it’s obviously all political.”
Obviously.