A man watches the verdict of former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial on May 30 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
9:06 a.m. ET, May 31, 2024
Trump’s conviction isn’t doing much to shift some voters’ 2024 picks
A man watches the verdict of former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial on May 30 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Some things take time to sink in. But don’t expect committed Donald Trump voters to suddenly waver because their candidate is now a convicted felon.
“Just an abuse of the justice system,” Billy Pierce, a semi-retired consultant and Trump backer in Hartsville, South Carolina, said shortly after the former president was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his Manhattan hush money trial.
Andrew Konchek, a commercial fisherman and Trump supporter in New Hampshire, responded to the verdict with sarcastic references to former President Bill Clinton’s personal scandals. “There’s no direct evidence and from who, Cohen? Who’s a habitual liar and has been disbarred? I smell some bullshit,” he added referring to the prosecution’s star witness, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen.
Another Trump backer in New Hampshire, Debbie Katsanos, texted during the jury deliberations. “I see no crime,” she said. “Certainly at a felony level. I am sorry to say I can’t trust the justice system when it’s being used in a political way. … Yes, no one is above the law, when a law is broken they should be held accountable. I’m just not seeing it in this case.”
Betsy Sarcone was a Nikki Haley voter in the Iowa caucuses and late last year said she would vote Biden if it ended up a Biden-Trump rematch. But she has shifted dramatically since the caucuses.
“This does not impact my plans to vote Republican. I don’t even like Donald Trump and this was a witch hunt, made up crimes on the part of the judge and DA. It will never stand on appeal. … I actually don’t think it will hurt him. People are so sick of the sideshows to distract/avoid/gaslight people away from the real problems in this country.”
Pierce, Konchek, Sarcone and Katsanos are all participating in a CNN project to follow the 2024 election through the eyes and experiences of voters who live in key battlegrounds or are part of key voting blocs. We will check back as news of the historic 34 count conviction sinks in, and as the former president prepares to be sentenced in July – days before he is to be officially nominated for president at the Republican National Convention.
Read more about voter reaction to Trump’s historic conviction here.
