And to the breaking political news,
now we do have a new ABC News Ipsos poll.
And it's our first look at how voters are reacting
to the felony conviction of former President Trump.
The polling started the day after the New York jury
found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records
to hide hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
ABC News political director Rick Klein joins us live now
from Washington with this.
Rick, good morning to you.
Let's take a look at the numbers here because our
poll suggests that
50% of Americans think the verdict against Trump was correct,
49% think he should end his campaign.
So Rick, what does that tell us?
Yeah. Good morning, Gio. That is a really striking number.
This is such a closely divided country,
and the fallout from this from this verdict is no
different.
And to see it split along party lines is one
thing.
But to see these stark numbers and see that half
the country thinks it was the verdict was right and
almost half thinks he should drop out tells you something
about the political damage or the potential damage that Trump
faces.
Most Republicans are backing Trump,
but was it's striking to me in this poll to
see about one in
616% of Republicans say that this verdict was correct and
say he should drop out.
Those are big, big numbers.
But this has divided the country like so many other
issues before it.
Big, big numbers, Rick. But these numbers change when you
look at Americans who specifically view Trump and Biden unfavorably.
And it's very interesting. Yeah,
this is a big headline out of the poll,
Geo, because when you when you drill down on these
numbers,
you see 65% of the people that dislike both candidates,
we're calling them so-called double haters in this race think
the verdict was correct.
And 67% think that Trump should end the campaign.
Now, why is that a big deal?
Well, we have a an
election that has two candidates who are so historically disliked.
They may this this group of voters might actually decide
this election.
By some measures, they might be as much as 20%
of the country. And for them to come out this
strongly and feel like the verdict correct and that Trump,
Trump deserves some kind of a punishment and that Trump
should actually drop out of the race,
that tells you something about the mindset of voters like
this.
Now, some of them may not vote at all.
Some of them may may,
may decide to go for a third party candidate.
Some might come back into the Trump fold when they're
faced with the choice of Trump versus Biden.
But that's a pretty big split.
And to see 2/3 of of voters that dislike them
both
agree on that is to me really something.
So, Rick, at the end of the day,
did the trial hurt Trump and help Biden in any
substantial way?
Not in the not in these numbers,
no, Gio, you know, the perceptions of these men are
so baked.
They are just as popular or should I say unpopular
as they have always been.
And that hasn't changed as a result of this.
Trump didn't is no really worse for the wear and
Biden didn't doesn't look any better.
But I do think this is interesting as well.
We should note that 47%
of voters in this survey say that these charges were
politically motivated.
Now, of course, a similar number think that the charges
were right.
So both of those things can be true at the
same time.
People can think it's politically motivated and at the same
time think that the charges should have been brought and
that the case was rightfully decided.
At the end of the day,
this is just tells you something about this polarized country
and how the messaging now has to shift.
If you're Joe Biden, this is a big opportunity for
for his campaign.
If you're Donald Trump, you've kind of been saying the
the same thing all along and you are seeing some
traction from the argument that these were politically motivated charges,
even though so much of the country thinks he is
right to face punishment.
All right, Rick Klein with the new numbers.
Thank you so much, my friend.
And tune into this week.
Later we'll have more on the poll and George Stephanopoulos
speaks with Trump attorney Will Scharf and Biden ally Governor
Wes Moore of Maryland following Trump's historic felony conviction.
Plus, George speaks with White House national security spokesman John
Kirby about the state of the wars in Ukraine and
Gaza.