Analysis | An appropriate anticlimax for the rule of law and Trump

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : And Trump played that game to his advantage in the end.
51% : The sentencing did solidify that Trump will enter office in 10 days as a felon, but that's about it.
44% : The anticlimactic judicial decision epitomizes something that has become increasingly evident in the Trump era: The courts, which so many people have hoped would prove a bulwark against Trump, have now been relegated to a cog in our political system -- subject to much of the same political gamesmanship, polarization and disregard as everything else.
44% : The biggest consequence of Trump's criminal cases, after all, appears to be that Trump will now enjoy a larger degree of immunity in his second term than he did in his first.
43% : But the practical effect of all of this is that cases like that will be much less likely to be brought in the future -- both because of how Trump skirted these charges and made life hell for those prosecuting him, and because presidents will now enjoy a significant degree of immunity moving forward.
30% : When the verdict in New York came down, Americans approved of it and thought Trump was guilty -- often by double-digit margins.
30% : Whatever you thought of the criminal cases brought against Trump, the fact that Americans generally agree with the New York courts that he is a felon
29% : Fully, 7 percent of Trump supporters said the charges were a net-negative in their voting calculus, but they were backing Trump anyway.
25% : People were willing to believe Trump was a criminal and factor it into their votes, but that's about all his legal troubles amounted to for them, politically.
23% : The American people did largely think Trump was a criminal, which he now officially is.
22% : Trump, who was convicted in New York on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to pay hush money to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, wound up escaping any real punishment.
20% : Americans also didn't want Trump to go to prison for his crimes in New York.
13% : Even after the 2024 election, a CNN poll showed Americans said by a 54-45 margin that they disapproved of special counsel Jack Smith dropping the federal criminal charges against Trump (something Smith had little choice about, given Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president). Americans elected Trump, but at least some of his voters also still wanted him prosecuted.

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