One in Five Republicans Happy Donald Trump Has Been Found Guilty

Almost one in five Republicans have indicated that they support the guilty verdict in former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial, a new poll shows.

On May 30, Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 hush-money payment made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the payment was meant to prevent Daniels from speaking publicly about an affair she said she had with the former president. Trump, who denied the affair and any wrongdoing, said the case was politically motivated. His lawyers have said they are appealing the verdict.

Following his conviction, the former president has faced a number of negative polls. Monday, Data for Progress, a progressive think tank and polling firm, published survey results that said 18 percent of Republican voters either strongly approved or somewhat approved of Trump being found guilty—with 9 percent strongly approving and 9 percent somewhat approving.

The poll was conducted between May 31 and June 1 among 1,216 likely voters. It is unclear how many of those were Republicans, and the margin of error in the poll was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The poll also found that most Republicans said they did not support the verdict, with 58 percent saying they strongly disapproved of it and 17 percent somewhat disapproving.

Of all likely voters, 56 percent approved of the court ruling, and 38 disapproved.

When asked if the trial was fair or rigged, 76 percent of Republicans said it was rigged, while 18 percent said it was fair. When all likely voters were polled, 53 percent said it was fair, and 39 percent said it was rigged.

Newsweek has contacted a representative for Trump for comment by email.

Speaking to Newsweek, Heath Brown, an associate professor of public policy at City University of New York, said Trump’s standing among independent voters was more important. Polls show that Trump has lost support among this group since being found guilty.

“I think the Trump campaign should be most worried about the post-conviction polling among independent voters,” Brown said. “That one in four independent voters indicated to pollsters that the guilty verdict made them less likely to vote for Donald Trump suggests a major issue for his campaign.”

Since his guilty verdict, some Republicans have come out against the former president. Another recent survey found that one in three Republicans now thought Trump was the wrong choice to be their party’s nominee in the upcoming presidential election.

However, Trump has also received support from prominent Republicans. House Speaker Mike Johnson called Thursday “a shameful day in American history.”

Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the case, has scheduled the former president’s sentencing for July 11. He could face substantial fines or jail time.