Fifty-eight percent of GOP voters said in the new survey convicted felons should be allowed to become president if they are elected. YouGov noted that just 17 percent of Republicans held that opinion in April.
In February, 34 percent of GOP voters said criminality was among their least desired traits. Now, 19 percent say the same.
Incredible.
While I think it’s funny that the tough on crime crowd is rallying behind a convicted felon it’s important to remember that sometimes there ARE people who have been politically suppressed. Eugene Debs ran in 1920 for the socialist party. He’d been convicted for speaking out against WW1 at the time. He didn’t win, but he did run.
What I hope is that Trump just doesn’t win. His support goes way beyond simple constitutional rights or freedom of speech. These GOP voters are not REALLY saying convicted felons should be allowed to become president. They are saying TRUMP should be allowed to become president. It’s populist, slightly cultish, and entirely frightening. Due process means nothing, personality and whatever they personally view as “strength” are what matters to them.
Yes, obviously they are not actually changing their actual view(s) at all; their only actual view is “what we do is right, what ‘others’ do is wrong”. That stays forever unchanged, it’s just their outward-facing rhetoric that changes.
The laws around felons and felonies is a whole 'nother discussion. It’s an arbitrary category that differs by state, and was only really created in order to give a veneer of legality for punishing certain groups more harshly. But yes, I’d vote for Debs in a heartbeat.
Slightly?