'Normal people are repulsed by Trump': The Manhattan indictment is chasing away independent voters

Any hopes that the Republican party might have that the indictment of Donald Trump in a Manhattan courtroom last Tuesday will convince outraged independent voters to jump on the Trump train should be put on hold, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

While GOP lawmakers are rallying to the former president's side despite a whopping 34 felony counts related to his alleged payment of hush money to an adult film star and a Playboy model, independent voters and some two-time Trump voters are saying they have had enough and are moving on.

According to the Journal's John McCormick, "While the indictment may embolden Mr. Trump’s core supporters, it is unlikely to help him reach more of the centrist voters he would need to reclaim the White House. A poll released by CNN last week showed 62% of independents approve of the indictment, while Democrats were nearly universal in their approval of it and Republicans largely disapproved of it."

Case in point, Randy Marquardt, the Republican party chairman in Washington County, Wisconsin, said a recent get-together broke up when Trump's name came up as the possible 2024 presidential nominee.

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“It got ugly and people eventually went their separate ways to head home,” explained Marquardt. “The other guy argued that Trump came with too much baggage, but there are still quite a few people who are all in with Trump.”

Dallas lawyer David Sherwood, who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020, has no desire to see the indicted former president on the ballot in 2024, telling the Journal, "The party should avoid Trump and find a younger and fresher candidate,” before adding, “I don’t think Trump can win because he has too much baggage. He has good policies, but an abrasive personality.”

Independent Josh Olson, of Huntersville, N.C., predicted Republicans would have trouble appealing to voters like himself.

“A lot of us normal people are repulsed by Trump already, whether he was indicted or not,” he explained.

Kevin Welch, an independent living Pottsville, Pa. said he would be willing to consider a Republican who is not the former president even though he voted for him twice before.

“He’s just too caustic,” he remarked. “I liked some of the things he did for this country, but the division that he causes, because of the words he uses, creates a lot of tension.”

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