Voters in several key states reacted to former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict in New York with a mix of disgust at his conduct and anger at the court, with a side of uncertainty about the charges he faced in the hush money trial.
More than 30 voters in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin who spoke to NBC News painted different pictures of the potential outcomes following the verdict, with some suggesting it would hurt the former president in the 2024 election, while some others thought it would have an impact on your benefit. Others noted that views on Trump have hardened so much over the past eight years that very few people could change direction after that.
“I mean, you can say this could change the race, but with him — he’s complicated,” said Jamyiah Reed, a 21-year-old from Phoenix who is undecided about her vote in 2024. She added that Trump has “a lot of supporters and they are too harsh in their beliefs to support him. So I don’t think the trial will make people not support him…sad to say, but they look up to him as a God.”
And although Trump’s guilty verdict penetrated the bubbles of people who don’t normally follow the news every day, the details of the trial were still lost on several voters who spoke to NBC News.
Asked if he understood the charges Trump faced in New York, 28-year-old Jalil Gray of Mesa, Arizona, said he didn’t — although he said Trump’s past now “could hurt him” in 2024, even after Gray have supported him in 2016 and 2020 He is undecided now.
“I’m a regular person here — I live day to day, I do my own thing, I work, I make my money, I go home,” Gray said of the accusations Trump faced. “Whatever he does, that’s what he does.”
Koda Furman, a resident of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who does not currently plan to vote, said, “I was going through TikTok and saw some memes about what happened with Donald Trump and everything. what [and] He was caught.”
Several Trump supporters noted that his legal troubles in 2023, when he was indicted in New York and three other jurisdictions on charges that included allegedly mishandling confidential documents and conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results, ultimately boosted his vote. in the Republican primaries.
“It might make them vote for him even more because of what they put him through,” said Barbara Bennett, 83, a retired nurse assistant in Phoenix who plans to vote for Trump for the third time this year. “I mean, I’m sure there are a lot of things about his personality that I don’t like, but I loved his presidency.”
“I think it’s going to backfire, I really do,” said Roland Grap, another longtime Trump supporter from Pittsburgh. “Most people want to have the decision in their hands, not the decision of some New York court.”
In Georgia, Emani L., a 32-year-old Clayton County resident who declined to give her last name, said she felt motivated to support Trump.
“My reaction, because I’m a criminal, I would still vote for Donald Trump,” Emani said, calling him “more relatable” to young black men like himself. “What he’s done in the past, what he’s done, has nothing to do with his business side. He’s a good businessman. So I would vote for him.”
But many other voters said the verdict would give them or their acquaintances pause.
“From what I’ve seen, it looks like I would probably still vote for Trump, but he doesn’t seem like such a good candidate” after being found guilty, said Vincent Beltran of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who also said he wouldn’t. I don’t think President Joe Biden would be a good enough candidate. He added, “It’s a mess that he went this route to win the race. I don’t know, maybe I’ll still vote for him. We’ll see.”
Another Arizona voter who has supported Trump in the past had similar things to say.
“I think it’s such a close election that it could persuade the electorate to go in a different direction, you know, that people might not want to elect a convicted felon,” said Robbie Mayer, a 75-year-old retired Phoenix prosecutor who twice supported Trump but plans to sit out the 2024 election, saying both Trump and Biden are “terrible.”
Muhammad Fauzail, 34, said he is “still thinking” about his vote in Decatur, Georgia, balancing concern about Biden’s Israel policy with distaste for Trump and a feeling that his conduct has embarrassed the country.
“I think we’re going to have to work with what we have at the moment,” Fauzail said. “One of them, Biden or Trump, will be president and that’s…yes, that’s the situation we’re in right now.”
“I would probably choose Biden, because I know Trump would do the same thing when it comes to the war in Gaza, but it would be worse for America domestically,” Fauzail said.
Noah F., a 2020 Biden voter from Gwinnett County, Georgia, who declined to give his last name, said he is not a fan of Biden or Trump and does not plan to vote for either of them. Of Trump’s guilty verdict, he said, “Honestly, what does it change? He was convicted. I mean, he’s still going to run for office… So many people are after him. I don’t see him losing, regardless of the verdict.” “
Several voters felt more solid about talking about the potential effects of the case than the details of the case itself, noting that Trump has generated a lot of controversy over the past decade.
“No, I don’t know the 34 counts,” said Reed, of Phoenix. “He has a lot going on. It’s always something from this to that.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
