Poll Shows Trump's Guilty Verdict May Help Biden's Chances

A New York Times poll released Wednesday found that Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony charges may have slightly improved President Joe Biden’s chances of beating him in November’s election.

The survey of nearly 2,000 voters previously polled by the Times found that the group favored Trump by just 1 percentage point post-conviction, down 2 points from where it was in April and earlier in May.

“While there’s no way to be sure whether their views reflect the broader electorate, the findings offer unusually clear evidence that the verdict has led some voters to reconsider their support for Mr. Trump,” the Times said of its poll’s findings.

Even a small loss of support for Trump could be decisive in such a close election. An amalgamation of polls tracked by FiveThirtyEight shows that Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, is leading Biden by just 1.6 percentage points as of Thursday.

The Times’ findings come days after an ABC News/Ipsos poll shared similarly bad news for Trump. It found that 52% of independents and 67% of so-called double haters, people who dislike both Biden and Trump, believe the latter should cease his campaign in light of his conviction in the hush money trial.

Both results come despite Trump using his conviction to make a big fundraising push, urging his supporters to donate in light of the “rigged, disgraceful trial.” In an email to his backers, he declared himself a “political prisoner” ― though he is unlikely to face any jail time on his convictions.

Trump faces dozens of charges in three other indictments that could further hurt him in the polls, but it’s unclear whether he’ll go to trial on any of them before the election.