A focus group of voters who dislike both former President Trump and President Biden do not anticipate the latter will win re-election and say Trump’s New York conviction will not affect their decision in November.
2WAY, in association with Wick Insights, presented "The Undecideds," a June 2, 2024, focus group with voters from swing states Georgia and North Carolina who discussed the Trump conviction.
The voters who participated in the project are undecided and are known as so-called "double haters," meaning that they are unhappy with the prospect of either candidate winning.
Five of the seven voters speaking to journalist Mark Halperin said they believe Trump would win the upcoming election, while two others remained unsure. However, none of the participants stated that Biden would emerge victorious.
"Trump’s definitely going to win," one male voter said. "COVID’s over. That’s why he lost."
"I can’t necessarily say Trump is going to win," a female voter said. "However, I feel like some of the people who were voting for Biden four years ago are definitely on the fence now."
The sentiment from the focus group echoed recent polls, which suggested the Trump verdict is unlikely to have a significant impact on Americans heading to the voting booth in November. Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
None of the focus group participants said the conviction would affect their vote in any meaningful way.
Additionally, the voters said that while they do believe the timing of the trial was politically motivated, they do not think the judge was biased and refuted the idea that Trump was treated unfairly.
"I feel like he was treated fairly. I feel like he actually got away with saying a lot of disparaging things, not only about the jurors, but the judge," one participant said.
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"I have a hard time believing that there were that many jurors agreed upon that were all in on ‘he’s not guilty, but we’re going to find him guilty just for kicks.’ So, I don’t think it was a major crime from what I understand. But at the same time, I think that he got caught doing — he or his campaign crew got caught doing something dumb," another voter said.
The participants admitted they did not have a clear or complete understanding of the charges levied against the former president but also stated they did not believe his crimes were severe.
With only one exception, the voters in the focus group all believed Trump should not and would not drop out of the race because of the conviction.
"I think it’s too late," one female voter said. "I mean, he pretty much kind of railroaded everybody else into not really being his competition. So, it’s like, it’s him or pretty much nobody."
