Donald Trump's single-minded focus on his multiple felony convictions, which have become a centerpiece of his bid to return to the White House, is causing no small amount of alarm among some Republicans who think it's not the winning issue he seems to believe it is.
According to a report from Politico, polling has shown that, while Trump has solidified his base, independents and swing voters have edged away from him now that he is a convicted felon and, that by reminding them of his legal problems, he is making it harder and harder to bring them into the fold in what is expected to be a neck-and-neck race for the presidency.
As one Republican noted, the election will come down to a tiny sliver of voters many of whom will have difficulty voting for a felon.
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"If Republicans had any hope of Trump tempering his hard-line rhetoric in an effort to win back more moderate voters he lost to Joe Biden in 2020 — something more traditionalist Republicans have pushed for — his post-conviction messaging shows the former president may be unwilling to do so," Politico's Lisa Kashinsky wrote.
That led to Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) to warn the former president needs to "be conscious” his ranting about the trial will have on potential voters.
“And I hope he is. Ninety percent already have their mind made [up], but that 10 percent is important.," he cautioned.
Sarah Longwell, executive director of Republican Voters Against Trump, agreed, telling Politico, "Trump has not figured out how to appeal to more center-right voters, and I think he doesn’t think he has to.”
According to Longwell, a focus group she assembled after the verdict was handed down confirmed using conviction as a centerpiece of the campaign is a non-starter with voters who have gone for Trump twice before who, she claimed, indicated it was " just more confirmation of how unfit he is.”
Barrett Marson, an Arizona Republican campaign strategist, warned the former president needs to modify his message to win over fence-straddlers.
"It’s incumbent on Trump to give them a bit more reason” to choose him over President Joe Biden. “Talk to us about how you are going to bring down gas prices or bring down interest rates or bring down inflation.”
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