Trump's Manhattan Criminal Trial Is A Massive Political Problem For Republicans

For months, Republicans and their media allies have been saying that the criminal charges help Trump, but new data shows the opposite. The Manhattan trial is a big problem.

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Trouble Is Brewing For Republicans At The Hush Money Trial

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

If you read or watch any corporate media coverage, you’ve definitely heard at one time or another that the criminal charges against Donald Trump do not matter to voters. Pollsters pretended that the ex-president was a normal presidential candidate and haven’t bothered to ask voters what they think or if Trump’s charges and potential conviction will influence his support in the general election.

Until now.

Reuters/Iposos recently asked registered voters what they thought of the hush money trial, and the answer was a serious uh-oh moment for Republicans.

Reuters reported:

Some 64% of registered voters in the five-day poll, which closed on Monday, described the charges as at least "somewhat serious," compared to 34% who said the charges lacked seriousness. The rest were unsure or didn't answer.

….

Roughly four in 10 Republican respondents considered the hush money charges to be serious, as did two-thirds of independents.

….

Close to a third of Republicans - and close to two-thirds of independents - in the poll said it was believable that Trump falsified business records and committed fraud. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsification of business records; he is not specifically charged with fraud, which is a different charge under New York law.

In the same poll, 74% of registered voters said that Trump’s trials should conclude before the November election.

There is no way to spin this. These are bad numbers for Trump and the Republican Party. Voters also didn’t buy Trump’s immunity claim, as it turns out that the hush money case which has been dismissed by many experts as the least serious of the four trials, has captured the attention of voters, and we will talk about what these numbers could mean politically below.