Third criminal indictment seen as unlikely to erode Louisiana’s support for Trump

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Donald Trump has carried Louisiana in each of his runs for president, winning 58 percent of the vote in both races. But Trump’s third criminal indictment could throw a wrench in his third bid for the Oval Office.

“We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen,” Trump told a crowd in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. “You don’t concede when there’s theft involved.”

Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election spurred many in that crowd to storm the US Capitol minutes later. Now, 2 1/2 years later, those actions have also led to his four-count indictment on conspiracy and obstruction charges from a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia.

“It’s described in the indictment. It was fueled by lies,” Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith said at a press conference announcing the indictment Tuesday.

During his recent visit for a private fundraising dinner in Metairie, Trump briefly addressed the topic a potential Jan. 6-related indictment. Outside of Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter, Trump said, “I don’t know anything about it. We have a crooked nation. We have a lot of crooked people running our nation. Our country is failing, and we have to turn it around.”

The possibility of a president with one or more felony convictions would move the White House into unprecedented territory, Dillard University political analyst Dr. Robert Collins said.

“Do you put a sitting president under house arrest? Do you say, ‘OK, you just can’t leave the White House. You’re under house arrest.’ Sort of like wearing an ankle monitor?” asked Collins. “We don’t know. It would be an unprecedented situation.”

But Collins says a third criminal case against the former president is unlikely to diminish his support in our state.

“Louisiana is a red state. It is a reliable Republican state,” Collins said. “We do expect that Donald Trump, if he is the nominee, he will carry the state of Louisiana, regardless of how many indictments he has against him.”

As our news partners at the Louisiana Illuminator report, the nonprofit ‘Put Louisiana First’ paid for a survey of Louisiana voters six months ago.

It showed 38 percent supported Trump in the 2024 presidential race, ahead of 34 percent for President Joe Biden and 29 percent for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s closest competitor for the GOP presidential nomination.

Collins said the latest indictment could even help Trump’s standing in Louisiana.

“But whether it helps him nationwide is a completely different question,” Collins said. “Because what our polling shows is that amongst independents, the indictments do hurt him. In 43 states, the election is already decided. There are only about seven swing states in the United States, and those seven swing states determine who the president is in any particular election.”

In the first six months of this year, Trump’s campaign reported raising more than $32 million. But defending against criminal charges and civil lawsuits have eaten into the war chest for his 2024 bid. The Associated Press reports Trump’s committees spent $40 million on legal fees so far this year.

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