Voters in several key battlegrounds reacted to former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict in New York with a mix of disgust at his behavior and anger at the court, as well as uncertainty about the charges he faces in the silence trial.
More than 30 voters in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin who spoke to NBC News painted mixed pictures of the potential fallout after the ruling, with some suggesting it would hurt the former president in the 2024 election and a few suggesting he would return to previous elections. benefit. Others have pointed out that Trump’s views have hardened so much over the past eight years that few people can now switch to either side.
“I mean, you could say it could change the race, but with him — he’s a trickster,” said Jamiyaah Reed, 21, of Phoenix, who is undecided on the 2024 ballot. He added that Trump “has a lot of supporters and they are very strong in their beliefs to support him. So I don’t think the court people will support him… a god.”
While Trump’s guilty verdict penetrated the bubble of people who don’t usually follow the news daily, the details of the trial were still lost on a number of voters who spoke to NBC News.
Jalil Gray, 28, of Mesa, Arizona, said no when asked if he understood the charges Trump faces in New York — though he said Trump’s past could “haunt him” in 2024, even if Gray is in 2016 and 2020. even after supporting him for years. He is now undecided.
“I’m just a normal person here — live every day, do my job, work, earn my money, go home,” Gray said of the charges Trump faces. “What he does, he does.”
Koda Furman of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who doesn’t currently plan to vote, said: “I was just in the past on TikTok and I saw some memes about Donald Trump and all that. [and] caught”.
Several Trump supporters noted that in 2023, when he was indicted in New York and three other jurisdictions on charges of mishandling classified documents and conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election, he boosted the vote in the GOP primaries. resulted.
“They might vote for him more because of what they’ve done to him,” said Barbara Bennett, 83, a retired nurse’s aide in Phoenix who plans to vote for Trump a third time this year. “I mean, I’m sure there’s a lot 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 Grapp, another longtime Trump supporter from Pittsburgh. “Most people want the decision in their hands, not some court in New York.”
Emani L., a 32-year-old resident of Clayton County, Georgia, who declined to give her last name, said she intends to support Trump.
“My reaction is, being a criminal, I would still vote for Donald Trump,” Emani said, calling him “closer” to young people like himself. “What he did in the past, what happened to him, has nothing to do with the business side. He is a good businessman. That’s why I would vote for him.”
But many other voters said the ruling would give them or their acquaintances pause.
“From what I’ve seen, I’d probably still vote for Trump, but he doesn’t seem like a good candidate,” said Vincent Beltran of Kenosha, Wisconsin. I don’t think President Joe Biden is a good enough candidate. He added: “It’s confusing that he’s going this way 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, echoed similar sentiments.
“I think it’s a very close election, it might sway voters in a different direction, you know, people might not want to elect a convicted felon,” said Robbie Mayer, a 75-year-old retired Phoenix state attorney. He endorsed Trump but plans to run in 2024, saying Trump and Biden are “terrible.”
Muhammad Fauzail, 34, said he was “still thinking” about his vote in Decatur, Georgia, balancing concerns about Biden’s Israeli policies with hatred of Trump and a sense that his behavior has embarrassed the country.
“I think we have to work with what we have at this point,” Fauzail said. “One of them, either Biden or Trump, is going to be president, and that’s … yeah, that’s the situation we’re in right now.”
“I would probably go with Biden because I know Trump will do the same thing when it comes to the war in Gaza, but it will be worse for America internally,” 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. On Trump’s guilty verdict, she lamented: “Honestly, what does it change? He’s convicted. I mean, he’s still going to run… He’s got so many people behind him. I don’t see him losing regardless of the verdict.”
A number of voters pointed out that Trump has caused a lot of controversy over the past decade, talking more about the potential implications of the case than the specifics of the case.
“No, I don’t know the number 34,” said Reed, of Phoenix. “There’s a lot going on with him. There’s always something else.”