If the Democratic Party thought convicting former President Donald Trump was going to make his millions of supporters abandon him, they better think twice.
In fact, he got a six-point jump in approval after being found guilty of 34 counts for falsifying business records.
According to a poll conducted by the Daily Mail and J.L. Partners, 22 percent of voters now view Trump more favorably, while only 16 percent view him more negatively.
The poll was taken just hours after 12 jurors convicted Trump in an unprecedented and politically-motivated move.
The poll also found a four-point net positive impact for Trump among independent voters— who can ultimately decide the outcome of the November election.
“It was done last night right after the verdict, where I’m up six points,” Trump said, referring to the survey. “Six points from what we already were. We were leading fairly substantially. We’re up six points in the DailyMail poll. Now, maybe other polls come out and it says something differently. But a lot of people have predicted it because the public understands.”
James Johnson, who managed the poll, said that the guilty verdict did not change how Americans view Trump; it boosted the former president’s support among voters.
“Our snap poll of a representative sample of likely voters shows that for most Americans the trial has not changed their deep-set views of Trump,” he said. “But amongst those who are open to changing their mind, people feel more positive by a margin of 6 points. That is outside of the margin of the error of the poll and we are saying that is significant.”
“It extends to Independent voters too. Look at the explanations and it is clear why: people feel it was a politically motivated trial and view Trump as a ‘fighter' against what they see as injustice,” Johnson continued. “We will see how it translates into the voting intention polls in the coming days and weeks. But going by this poll we might not see much change in terms of the fundamentals of this race.”
Trump’s campaign donations also saw a massive increase following the “kangaroo court’s” verdict. The 2024 hopeful raised nearly $35 million in just hours.
“From just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed with support, and despite temporary delays online because of the amount of traffic, President Trump raised $34.8 million from small-dollar donors,” Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, Trump Campaign senior advisers, said.
Last year when Trump first faced four indictments against him, the 45th president also saw his poll numbers improve.