21 percent of independents less likely to back Trump: Poll

Former President Trump’s conviction in the New York hush money case could turn some independent voters away from him, a poll released Monday found.

The Politico/Ipsos survey found that 21 percent of independents said they are less likely to vote for Trump after the conviction, adding that the guilty verdict in Trump’s hush money case is very important to how they will vote in November. Five percent of independents said the verdict was an important factor and that the conviction makes them more likely to support Trump.

Just a small share of Republicans surveyed said they would be less likely to back the former president after his conviction.

Forty-one percent of Republicans said the conviction has no impact on their support for Trump and that it was not important in how they will vote. Twenty-eight percent of Republicans said that they were more likely to support Trump and that the guilty verdict was not important in how they vote.

Just 7 percent of Republicans said they are less likely to support Trump and that the conviction was important in determining their vote.

A New York jury found Trump guilty last month on all 34 counts of falsifying business charges after hearing weeks of testimony from high-profile witnesses. The former president repeatedly railed against the case, labeling it as politically motivated.

His sentencing is scheduled for July 11, which is just four days before the Republican National Committee’s national convention where he will likely be formally nominated as the GOP’s presidential nominee.

Republicans in the new survey were also more likely to say the hush money trial was not fair. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans said that the verdict was not “the result of a fair and impartial judicial process,” while 27 percent of independents and 5 percent of Democrats said the same.

The poll also found that 63 percent of Republicans said President Biden was directly involved in the Manhattan district attorney’s decision to bring the New York state case against Trump. Twenty-three percent of independents said the same, according to the poll.

President Biden at the end of May condemned Trump’s unfounded assertions of a biased legal system as “reckless” and “dangerous.” 

The poll was conducted June 7-9 among 1,027 U.S. residents. It has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.