American voters apparently are not too worried about Donald Trump’s conviction as the former president garnered more support than President Joe Biden in a key swing state, going by the results of poll held after he was pronounced guilty in the New York election interference case.
What Happened: Trump led Biden by 49-44 in a head-to-head matchup in Georgia, the results of Quinnipiac University Poll of registered voters in Georgia released on Wednesday showed. The poll surveyed 1,203 Georgia self-identified registered voters from May 30-June 3, with a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.
The support was mostly along the party lines, with 94% of the Republicans backing Trump and 93% of Democrats picking Biden. Four percent each of either party crossvoted.
Incidentally, in a nationwide poll held by Quinnipiac in mid-May, Biden had a one-point lead over Trump, although it was within the survey’s margin of error.
The six-way hypothetical race involving independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, Green Party’s Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver showed Trump augmenting his lead over Biden. The former received 43% support and the latter 37%. Kennedy was picked by 8% of the voters, while West and Oliver received 3% support each. Stein was backed by 2% voters.
“Trump takes a narrow lead in the head-to-head horse race against Biden. Put four other ‘horses’ on the track, including the new Libertarian candidate, and he inches further ahead,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.
Voter Dilemma: Half of the Georgian voters agreed with the guilty verdict handed down to Trump, while 44% disagreed. The percentage of voters who agreed with the verdict was high among Democrats (96%) and considerable among independents (52%) and very low among Republicans (10%).
“In a key state that went for Biden in 2020, half of voters agree with the guilty verdict that made Trump the first president to be convicted of a felony, but Trump still has the advantage in the 2024 race, ” said Malloy.
When asked whether the guilty verdict will influence their vote for Trump, a majority (54%) said it doesn’t make a difference to their vote, while 22% said it makes them less likely to vote for Trump and 23% said it makes them more likely to vote for him.
Among independents, 61% said it doesn’t make a difference to them. Only 18% said it makes them less likely to vote for Trump.
The voters were also asked about the criminal case Trump is facing in Georgia over election subversion. Forty-one percent believed Trump did something illegal and 19% said the former president did something unethical but nothing illegal. Thirty-five percent gave a clean chit to him. Among independents, the proportion worked out to 43%, 25% and 29%, respectively.
A Georgia appeals court this week halted lower court proceedings in the case against Trump and eight other co-defendants, which will potentially delay the case beyond the election.
On the upcoming election, 68% of Georgians said they are either somewhat confident or very confident that votes across Georgia will be counted accurately, while 30% said they are either not so confident or not confident at all. Those pessimistic about fairness in counting mostly belonged to the Republican party, with only 15% of GOP voters in Georgia saying they are very confident.
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