Why would people be even more prepared to vote for Trump now?

[BIWI]

According to a piece in the paper today, 25% of Republicans said they would vote for Trump if he was convicted.

Now he's been found guilty on all 34 counts, so presumably will be more electable.

Why?!

Is it just that Americans see Biden as too old/unelectable?

But even if that is so, why on earth do American voters think it's OK to vote in someone who is so clearly dishonest as their next president?

I really don't understand the mentality.

I despair, but I can second guess.

• He looks more like a President.
• Lots of people who used to matter more feel marginalised and see black people and women catching up with them and not knowing their place. Trump represents the old entitled hierarchy.

Thanks about it really.

It's a cult. I think that's the only explanation.

Because most of those who would even consider voting for him are thick-as-mince, contrarian, belligerent, tin-eared and aroused by the idea of themselves as rebels and martyrs.

It introduces the question of what kind of criminal is it ok to elect to lead America? And the answer would have to start with various aspects of colour and money.

Except, bizarre though it is, they are not all thick.

Because they believe the line he's spouting that he's the victim of a witch-hunt and it's a 'scam' trial. Remember there's a lot of right-wing media in the US that would be backing that up. So they see him as a poor persecuted martyr.

Depressingly, I think he'll get in again.
If only Biden had declined to stand again and the Democrats had chosen a younger more dynamic candidate 🙁

I think it’s because his supporters think he is being removed from the presidential race via nefarious means. That a biased judge in a heavily Demo rat supporting state have found charges which are bad but nothing that hasn’t been going on for all time in the corridors of power.

I am not a Trump supporter BTW but that seems to be the crux of why his chances of winning might even grow.

A pollster who had worked with the Democrats previously (quoted in BBC article) said:
“While it’s not a great thing to be convicted of a crime, what voters will be thinking about in November is inflation, the southern border, competition with China and Russia and the money that is being spent on Israel and Ukraine,”

They can remember the economy being better when he was president. And no one really cares about the stripper story. They view it as something used as a take down rather than something to care about.

Actually I read 25% of republicans said they wouldn’t vote for him if he was convicted. Presumably this means 75% still will.
He has played on conspiracy theories, fear and ignorance so that whatever happens just supports his narrative that he alone can save America. Swathes of the most fanatic trump voters believe there is a deep state full of pedophiles and that nothing the government or mainstream media (not fox fairy tales) says is actually true.
Trump support is huge from people who didn’t go to college and many appear to exist in an echo chamber. Of course he has other supporters too (largely a richer group) of die hard republicans who would support whoever the candidate is although a significant number are appalled by what he has done to their party.
He is an evil megalomaniac exploiting whoever he can to get ultimate power.

I'm not sure that it's quite so simple. He might be more popular with white men but he can't be said to be unpopular outside of those demographics.

I think so too. Also, he communicates with people not like a politician and gets right to the heart of what people are worried about. No one in Biden's government actually listens to the people (unless they are in the alphabet community). Additionally, what Biden has done to women's sports is a disgrace, Trump will reverse this travesty (he'd better). I dislike the man but can see why this frame-up court case and guilty verdict will actually make him more popular with disenfranchised people ( and there are many, many of them). I've got my popcorn at the ready for November.

They'd do the same as him if they could get away with it. Lots of people admire him for it. They try to convince you that you are just the same - apart from being a hypocrite. In short - they are Tories.

Stupid is as stupid does.

I came on to say the same. It's like a cult: them against the world. This conviction only reinforces that.
Unfortunately having no viable opposition doesn't help.

It's because they are stupid, and you can't argue with stupid.

I really hope he doesn't get in, but if he does then it will confirm that the US is now an idiocracy, not a democracy. I will have zero time or patience for that.

Yeah Maga think it's them against the world now.

Plus there's the real shady republicans who know he's a violent fraudster but just want their team in the white house, no matter what.

However in some states up to 20% of republicans voted for his running mate for nominee after she dropped out the race, suggesting those ones might not vote for trump at all.

It's not even worth reading anymore, none of it's worth reading anymore .

Look at those demographics and think which groups were relatively better off against the others compared to now, fifty years ago. Who want to go back to 1960?
If you identify as macho, you will like Trump. If you are racist you will like Trump.
If you are a highly educated, young black woman doing well in a modern career, then Biden.

It’s like Americans will literally vote for anyone to avoid having a woman as president, surely they could have found 2 better candidates, Kamala Harris better my one of them.
I kind of hope Harris gets a turn. Surely Biden is way too old and frail.

Nobody who would vote for the democrat ever will choose to vote for trump because Biden is represented as “too old.” Most people vote routinely for the same party or stay home die to disappointment.

The country is extremely polarized around specific policies(such as abortion, LGBTQ rights, taxation, consumer protections, health care, etc..) and culture war politics of resentment, racism , white anxiety, jingoism, threatened masculinity, and evangelical dominionism.

Trump gets former non voters who like his pugnacious faux outsider shtick—honed in his time as a wirld wrestling impressrio. They don’t really think about politics as such but about getting their tribe or their avatar into power and winning the game.

Of routine or registered voters very few are actually swing voters—sometimes voting for the democrat and sometimes voting for the republican. These voters sometimes call themselves independents but if you examine their actual voting patterns they generally end up voting for the same party over and over again and rationalizing their vote afterwards.

Trump lost the popular vote twice by millions of votes. Without the bizarre artifact of electoral college he would handily lose again or rather we would never have heard of him because he would have lost to Hillary Clinton the first time by some 6 million votes (IIRC).

Because the Democrats/Biden are so awful.

But anyone who genuinely believes in Trump is a fool..

I'd recommend listening to Will be Wild and the coming storm. Both about the storming of the capitol. Both give a lot of insight.

That sounds like something I heard on the radio today from US spokesperson

The question I have is has his support gone up or down

I get why either way tbh. From a behavioural pov that is.

Good question OP. I wondered the exact same thing.

Some good replies on here too from posters.