Special Poll
Trump’s Historic Conviction Bolsters Support Among Republicans
Former President Trump’s historic felony conviction has made half of Republicans even more likely to vote for him, according to a recent poll conducted in the aftermath of the verdict.
Why it matters: In what is shaping up to be a tight race between Trump and President Biden, even minor shifts in voter support could be pivotal.
Since his conviction on 34 felony counts, Trump’s team has intensified its outreach to Black voters, arguing that both Trump and Black communities share a frustration with what they perceive as an unfair justice system.
Why it matters: This is the latest instance of Trump’s campaign turning legal setbacks into a narrative of political persecution.
Trump, who has a history of racially charged comments about African Americans and Latinos, is attempting to forge a bond with Black voters, particularly men. President Biden and other Democrats have mocked this strategy, with Biden recently stating that Trump is “pandering and peddling lies and stereotypes for your vote, so he can win for himself, not for you.”
Driving the news: Trump’s strategy comes as polls indicate he is making inroads into Biden’s strong support among Black voters, 92% of whom supported Biden in 2020.
In a race that could hinge on marginal gains, even slight shifts among key voter groups could prove significant. Some of Trump’s prominent supporters, including Senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, are actively working to attract Black voters.
“The reason we’re seeing so many African Americans come into the Trump campaign—two big things: jobs and justice,” Scott (R-S.C.) said in a CNN interview on Friday. “As an African American born and raised in the Deep South who had concerns about our justice system as it relates to race, I’m now seeing it play out from a partisan perspective,” he added.
Donald Trump Jr. and other allies have shared clips of listeners from the popular radio show “The Breakfast Club” expressing support for Trump after his conviction. Trump’s campaign and the New York Young Republican Club are also planning potential events in the city’s outer boroughs, according to the club’s president, Gavin Wax.
Scott Presler, a conservative activist working with the Republican National Committee to register voters, has encouraged his followers and volunteers to reach out to Black men. “Donald Trump’s conviction has highlighted the affliction of the American criminal justice system. And as it relates to Blacks, he should continue to say what he’s been saying, and that is, ‘I feel your pain,’” said Vernon Jones, a former DeKalb County executive and GOP state legislator in Georgia.
Reality check: There’s little evidence that Trump’s narrative of victimhood is swaying a significant number of Black voters.
Civil rights advocates have questioned Trump’s attempt to liken his privileged legal struggles to the experiences of historically marginalized communities. Critics point to past allegations of discrimination against Black tenants in the 1970s and his calls for the death penalty for the “Central Park Five,” Black and Latino teenagers who were wrongly convicted of assaulting a white woman in the 1980s.
“Y’all out here acting like Trump is Mandela,” former South Carolina state Rep. Bakari Sellers posted on X. “Cut it out … Trump broke the law. 12 peers held him accountable.”