The Democrats should demand a refund from whoever did the focus group on their $50 million “Trump is a convicted felon” ad campaign, because initial indications are it is backfiring spectacularly.
Clearly the idea is to soften up Trump before the upcoming debate – where Biden and the Democrats are already demanding last minute rules changes to allow Joe to sit rather than stand for the whole 90 minutes.
If you haven’t seen the Democrats’ “Character Matters” ad, you can watch it here:
As Alexandra Russel of the Conservative Fix explained at the conclusion of the former President’s New York trial, CNN's top data analyst, Harry Enten, has reported that the Manhattan District Attorney's prosecution of former President Donald Trump has had no significant effect on his polling numbers. As the trial concludes, voter opinions about Trump have remained largely unchanged, with fewer Americans considering the charges serious.
Voter Sentiment Unchanged
The percentage of voters who believe Trump may have committed illegal acts remains steady, while those who consider the charges serious dropped from 40% to 35%.
Focus on Major Issues
Americans are more concerned with issues like the economy (65%), immigration (52%), election legitimacy (49%), and abortion (47%) than Trump's legal troubles, which only 42% are following closely.
Polling Stability
Trump's lead over Biden has remained consistent, with a pre-trial advantage of +1 point unchanged as the trial concludes.
Enten observed that while news enthusiasts may closely follow Trump's legal battles, the average American is more preoccupied with pressing personal and national concerns. He noted, "What we see is Americans’ minds aren’t changing, and a big reason why is that at this particular point, they are tuned out of the conversation."
This focus on broader issues suggests that the American public's priorities lie elsewhere, reducing the impact of Trump's legal challenges on his political standing. Despite the media attention surrounding the trial, voters seem to remain steadfast in their opinions of the former president.
But you don’t really have to go to CNN’s (surprisingly honest in this case) analysis, all you have to do is go out and talk to or listen to the response from the ad’s target audience.
Trump’s campaign responded to the launch of the new Democrat ad campaign by blasting the hush money trial as “election interference” and highlighted polls showing the former president’s strength in swing states. “The contrast between President Trump’s strength and success versus Crooked Joe Biden’s weakness, failures, and dishonesty will be made clear on the debate stage next week,” Karoline Leavitt, a campaign spokesperson, wrote on X.
We stopped counting when we’d worked on 300 political campaigns and that experience told us that you can’t win a policy argument with ad hominem attacks on your opponent. “Trump is a criminal” does not rebut “The border is open, and families are living paycheck to paycheck.” The lawfare against former President Trump has already been discounted by millions of swing state voters, making the Democrats $50 million dollar ad buy a good investment to help President Trump to firm up the sympathy vote.
Joe Biden Convicted Criminal ad
2024 polls
immigration
economy
inflation
Joe Biden campaign
2024 election
Hush money trial
election interference
Character Matters