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A new poll shows former President Donald Trump is making a strong push in the historically deep blue New York state despite his recent Manhattan hush money trial.
Trump reportedly trails President Joe Biden in his native state by a single-digit margin, 48% to 41%, in a head-to-head poll and 44% to 38% when third-party candidates are considered, according to an Emerson College Polling/The Hill/PIX11 survey released minutes prior to his guilty conviction Thursday (May 30). The former president is also reportedly flipping numerous independent voters "who traditionally vote for Democrats" in the Empire state, according to Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling.
“Independent voters in New York who traditionally vote for Democrats, according to exit polling, have flipped to lean toward Trump by a margin of ten points, 43% to 33%,” Kimball said.
The poll also predicted that most respondents expected Trump would be found guilty in the Manhattan hush money trial with 27% of respondents predicting he'd be found guilty on all counts, 44% predicting he'd be found guilty on some counts, but not all, and 29% predicting he'd be found not guilty on all counts. The former president was found guilty on all 34 counts for forging business records to hide hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in an effort to keep their alleged affair quiet during his successful 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump is scheduled for sentencing on July 11 and could face up to 20 years in prison. The presumed Republican presidential candidate immediately returned to the campaign trail and issued a warning for President Biden following what he referred to as a "rigged, disgraceful trial" following the court's decision.
“Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrats confined President Trump to a courtroom for more than eight hours a day for more than six weeks, and he’s still winning,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to FOX News. “Now that he is fully back on the campaign trail, Biden and the Democrats better buckle up.”