With former President Donald Trump now facing a second indictment, what effect could this have on him and the 2024 election as a whole?
Quinnipiac University Political Science Professor Wesley Renfro says many voters have already made up their minds about the former president, but enough voters could change their minds with recent presidential races having razor thin margins in key states.
“Tens of thousands of voters in particular states have been swung in the other direction for different candidates would have swung the outcome of the election. So, to say it probably won’t change many minds, is not automatically going to say it won’t change some electoral outcomes,” he said.
Renfro says this is the first time a former president is facing federal charges and more could come depending on the outcome of other investigations.
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“This might not be the last set of federal charges Donald Trump faces. Is this just the set in the middle and we’ve got more consequential set related to January 6 coming sometime soon? We don’t know that for sure, but it’s at least possible,” he said.
He says the former president can still continue to run for office while indicted, but a lot of uncertainty remains if he is found guilty on any of the charges before he’s elected president.
“That would likely end up provoking some sort of constitutional crisis and quite frankly, we don’t know how that would work,” Renfro said.
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The professor also says it remains to be seen how many of Trump’s opponents in the GOP primary will begin criticizing the former president more forcefully with this latest development.
