Donald Trump ‘very popular’ among fellow convicted felons

A new survey has revealed that former President Donald Trump is “very popular” among fellow convicted felons.

The Marshall Project, a non-profit news organization focused on covering criminal justice, polled 54,000 people in 785 prisons and jails, across 45 states and Washington, D.C. The majority of white respondents (60 percent) said they would vote for Trump. A minority of Black men (39 percent) said they would vote for the Republican nominee. Of those surveyed, only seven percent said they wouldn’t vote.

“We understand that Republicans are very tough on criminals and even tougher on us during our incarceration, nevertheless, Trump remains very popular here,” Enrique Banda-Garcia, a Trump supporter who is incarcerated in Washington State Penitentiary, told The Marshall Project.

Trump, who was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to cover up an alleged affair with adult-film star Stormy Daniels. Each count of falsifying business records is a class E felony. Under New York state law, this is punishable by a fine and up to five years in prison, but as it is a first time non-violent offence, it’s unlikely that the former president will serve time.

Trump denounced the verdict as a “disgrace” and said that it was a “rigged trial” and maintained his innocence. The historic verdict marked the first time a former U.S. president has been convicted of a crime.

The majority of Republican inmates did not believe that Trump should be incarcerated for his crimes, with 46 percent saying he should be fined and 11 percent saying he should be incarcerated. 56 percent of Democrats were pro Trump’s incarceration.

Of the 54,000 survey respondents, 35 percent identified as independents, 22 percent as Republicans and 18 percent as Democrats. While independents is the predominant political identity in prison, almost half (46 percent) of this group said that they would vote for Trump if they had the chance.

From behind bars, a majority of Democrat-identifying inmates (79 percent) say the country is ready for a female president, Republican prisoners on the other hand, aren’t so sure, with only 34 percent saying the country is ready, according to The Marshall Project’s report.

Vice President Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, has garnered a mixture of opinions among the incarcerated population. Sixty-four percent of Republican respondents had an unfavorable opinion of Harris, while 72 percent of Democrat respondents had a favorable opinion.

In her presidential bid, Harris has continually highlighted her record as a prosecutor. In her first rally as the nominee, Harris said that she has taken on “perpetrators of all kinds.”

“Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So, hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” the vice president said.

Newsweek has reached out to the Trump and Harris campaigns outside of normal working hours via email for comment.

In 2022, over 4.4 million people in the U.S. were disenfranchised due to felony convictions, and thousands of eligible voters were unable to cast their ballot, according to Human Rights Watch.

According to The Sentencing Project, approximately 2 million people with felony convictions have regained the right to vote since the ’90s. Only a small number of states allow people in prison to cast a ballot, and while people in jail can vote, many don’t due to obstacles.

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