Hush-Money Trial Verdict Bumps Trump’s Approval Ratings As Republican Carries Conviction Stain Like A Crown

Former US President Donald Trump received a six-point bump in approval ratings after a jury found him guilty in the hush-money payment case, a snap poll, conducted in the hours after the verdict, by DailyMail.com showed.

The jury in Manhattan on Thursday found him guilty on 34 counts in the case where he is said to have falsified business records to hide a payment meant to silence porn star Stormy Daniels along with other charges.

The poll by DailyMail.com showed that 22% respondents now have a ‘more favourable rating’ of Donald Trump after the guilty verdict. Only 16% respondents held that they have a ‘less favourable rating’ of Donald Trump after he was found guilty.

“That six-point net positive result is another sign of the way the businessman-turned-politician seems able to ride out crises that would sink anyone else. In a tight election, it could be enough to get him across the finish line,” the DailyMail.com said in the accompanying report.

The website poll data was collected by JL Partners who used an online panel of 400 likely voters to assess the impact on the election.

Some who voted for US President Joe Biden in 2020 felt the trial was a waste of money while Trump’s supporters used terms Trump uses – like ‘political witch hunt’ and ‘sham trial’ – to describe the trial. Trump’s campaign team has also used terms like “sham” trial, “rigged verdict,” “kangaroo court” and other Soviet-style shenanigans to attack the verdict.

However, it should be noted that the verdict was handed down by a jury whose 12 members were selected by the defence i.e. Donald Trump’s legal team, as well as the prosecution.

Trump’s early reaction to the verdict also suggested he will wear his conviction like a crown, an Associated Press report said.

Trump’s campaign team said that contributions flowed into the Trump campaign — more than $1 million for each for the 34 convictions.

A large number of Republicans have also said they were horrified by what the trial said about the man.

“For a Republican like myself it’s all very embarrassing. It’s like finding out your sister is a prostitute,” said, a retired electrician in North Carolina – one of the battleground states – while speaking to the website.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded on Friday, ten percent of Republican registered voters are less likely to vote for Donald Trump following his felony conviction for falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star.

“The potential loss of a tenth of his party’s voters is more significant for Trump than the stronger backing of more than a third of Republicans, since many of the latter would be likely to vote for him regardless of the conviction,” Reuters said in the accompanying report.

Donald Trump showed signs of retribution against any Republican who dared to stand up for the trial.

Larry Hogan, who is widely seen as an anti-Trump Republican, the Republican Senate candidate in Maryland and a former governor, posted an appeal for all Americans to accept the jury’s decision, whatever the outcome, and added: “At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders — regardless of party — must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship”.

Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump campaign adviser, shot back on X: “You just ended your campaign”.

“He’s a lot of things, but I never personally thought of him as a liar. I guess this would change my perception of him. Out of all the other issues, this is still bad but it’s not enough to sway me to vote for Biden,” Justin Gonzalez, a 21-year-old student and tutor in the border city of McAllen, Texas, said, adding he cares more about immigration enforcement than the icky business centred on the cover-up of payments to silence a porn actor.