LATEST UPDATE: A jury has found former President Donald Trump guilty of felony charges for falsifying business records in an effort to keep information from voters ahead of the 2016 election.
(The Hill) – More than two-thirds of voters believe a guilty verdict for former President Donald Trump in his criminal hush money trial would not impact their vote, according to a new survey.
The Marist poll, published Thursday, found that 67 percent of respondents say a guilty verdict in the case would not affect their vote, while 17 percent of people said they would be less likely to vote for the former president. About 15 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to vote for Trump if he is convicted.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the case, which marks the first criminal trial of a sitting or former president. Prosecutors claim Trump illegally covered up hush money payments made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels in the weeks before the 2016 election to buy her silence over an alleged past affair, which he denies.
The case entered jury deliberations early Wednesday.
If Trump were to be found not guilty, just over three-quarters of respondents said it wouldn’t matter for their vote. Similarly, 9 percent of respondents said they would be less likely to vote for the presumptive GOP nominee and 14 percent said they were more likely to choose him, per the poll.
The survey also found that about two-thirds of all voters are already confident in who they will vote for in November, and nothing will change their minds. Just seven percent of respondents are undecided.
Of those who said they will definitely vote, 73 percent already have their minds made up, according to the survey results.
The Marist poll, sponsored by NPR and PBS Newshour, surveyed about 1,200 adults between May 21-23, with a margin of error of about 3.4 percentage points.