MI Patch Readers Agree With Trump Conviction, Want New Candidate: Survey Results

ILLINOIS — A day after history was made as Donald J. Trump became the first former president to ever be convicted of a crime, we asked Patch readers for your thoughts on the case — and you delivered.

Michigan Patch's non-scientific survey received more than 600 responses as of Monday morning, and more respondents agreed with the jury's guilty verdict in all 34 counts of the so-called New York "hush money" case.

More than half of Michigan Patch readers who responded, 59 percent, said they agreed with the guilty verdict, with 38.6 percent disagreeing and 2.4 percent who weren't sure.

Meanwhile, slightly more than half — 57.5 percent — said they do not think Trump should still be the Republican nominee for president. He's slated to become the party's official nominee in July at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

But most readers agreed on one thing — that the New York conviction won't sway their vote in November, with 78 percent of respondents saying "no." Asked whether the three other criminal cases against Trump will change the way they vote on Nov. 5, 79 percent also said no, and more than 81 percent said Trump's July sentencing — and whether he gets prison time — won't change things when they go to the polls.

Asked for their take on the "hush money" case, multiple readers simply responded, "Lock him up," a callback to Trump supporters' "lock her up" chant regarding Trump's 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton.

"I can't believe it took/is taking SO long for accountability to happen. Hooray for a brave judge and jury," one Michigan Patch reader wrote, while another called Trump "morally unfit" to be president.

A reader wrote that the conviction "shows that the system works," and several pointed out that Trump "is not above the law."

But Michigan Patch readers who disagreed with the New York verdict also had something to say, with several calling the trial "a witch hunt" and one respondent saying, "what an embarrassment of our legal system."

One wrote, "fix is in," while another said, "unfair - unjust - circus."

One reader called it a "sham trial put on by Biden's people at his direction corrupt dept of justice."

Another reader pleaded, "Pick a new candidate in order to give (Republicans) a fair chance," while one remarked, "I wish he and Biden would step aside and let two younger candidates run for President."

Another Michigan reader had a different take. "Did he pay off Stormy? Yes," they wrote. "Do I care? No."

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in the New York case on July 11.