Focus at Four: Public Opinion expert on Trump trial and election outcome
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Former President Donald Trump’s unprecedented criminal trial will soon be in the hands of jurors. He faces 34 counts of falsifying business records for allegedly covering up a hush money payment to adult film star, Stormi Daniels, and has pleaded not guilty.
The closing arguments started Tuesday.
Kirby Goidel, a professor with the Bush School of Government, said the outcome of the election might correlate with the outcome of the case. But, it’s all dependent on the jury’s decision.
“I think if he is found guilty across all counts, that’s harder for him to say that this was just a rigged court case that was against him. If he’s guilty of some but not all counts, then it becomes murkier,” he said.
Both Trump and Biden called in reinforcements for the decision. Trump had three of his children in court with him, and actor Robert De Niro and two police who defended the Capitol on January 6th were outside the courthouse speaking in Biden’s favor.
“We’re getting close to the verdict. And so like I said, it’s not going to speak for itself. Trump is going to speak about the verdict. The Biden campaign is going to speak about the verdict and whether or not it has an effect. So Trump wants to show unified support for him. He’s not losing support because of a potentially negative verdict, and Biden wants to be prepared to take advantage of a negative verdict should that come,” Goidel said.
With five months until the election and a debate coming up, he said the person who would benefit most from a debate is Biden.
“It’s because the expectations are so low. The Trump campaign has been actively saying he’s not up to the task of being president. All he has to do is walk in and clear what’s already a low bar,” he said.
