Former President Donald Trump’s supporters endured sweltering temperatures to attend his event in Arizona on Thursday night. The local media reported that 11 people who were waiting for Trump had been admitted to nearby hospitals due to illness from the heat, as Phoenix Fire officials confirmed.
Ben Brown of Arizona’s ABC15 captured footage of one of those eleven Trump supporters being wheeled off to the hospital on a stretcher while they waited in line in the sun to get into Donald Trump’s event under 102-degree temperatures. Many attendees had been waiting outside the event since early morning hours, long before Phoenix hit 110 degrees around 1:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
The heat wave is affecting millions of people across the southwest, with excessive heat warnings and watches extended from the central valley down through southern California’s deserts, southern Nevada, and southern and western Arizona and into Utah, impacting over 29 million people, according to Axios.
This event was supposed to be a town hall for Trump, who has not conducted a campaign in Arizona since 2022 when he visited the state to advocate for a group of candidates he had sponsored but all lost their contests. The rally comes as a new poll found that over 25% of respondents revealed that Trump’s conviction in his New York hush money case increased their likelihood of endorsing the presumed GOP nominee.
According to Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College Polling, Trump’s support remained unchanged before and after his conviction. Last Thursday, a New York jury rendered a historic verdict, finding the former president guilty of 34 felonies related to falsifying corporate records. Trump has persisted in saying he did nothing wrong, and his staff will probably file an appeal with the court.
In the study, 46% of registered voters still favor Trump, reflecting the stability of his base of support. In the poll conducted in April, his percentage remained the same. His advantage against his primary opponent in the general election, corrupt president Joe Biden, shrank from three to one point.
According to the poll, most Republicans (55 percent) said their conviction makes them more likely to support the former president, while the majority of corrupt Democrats (51 percent) said it makes them less likely to support Trump. Roughly 41% of independents claimed it had an effect. About 38% of respondents indicated they would be less likely to cast a ballot for the former president, while 21% said they would be more likely to do so.
On July 11, which is just four days before the Republican National Convention in 2024, Trump is scheduled to be sentenced. According to 40% of respondents in the survey, he ought to serve time in prison. 15% said he should be placed on probation, and 25% thought he should pay a fine.
The poll comes as Trump’s campaign has formally sent vice presidential vetting papers to a short list of potential running mates, including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), plus Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.
