Donald Trump’s conviction is certainly historic, but will it affect the odds of him winning the presidential election?

There are few better places to pose that question than America’s gambling capital, Nevada, which also happens to be one of the swingiest states in the country.

Trump latest: ‘The real verdict will be on November 5th’

The past four election cycles have gone the way of the Democratic Party, here, but between 1960 and 2000 it was almost always Republican.

If Trump is to beat President Biden in November, he will have to make inroads in places like this.

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‘I wouldn’t have him over for a beer, but I’d have him in the White House’

Inside Cal Neva casino, on the main strip in Reno, I find retired lorry driver Keith, a lifelong Republican voter and die-hard Trump supporter.

I ask him if the former president’s conviction has made him at least a little bit Biden-curious.

“Not at all,” he says. “I’m still voting for Donald Trump. I think this whole thing has been a mockery, a sham trial. I’m embarrassed for our country.”

He admits to not liking Donald Trump’s “personality” and claims the businessman is “goaded” into public disputes all too often.

“He’s got a big mouth,” Keith says. “I wouldn’t have him over for a beer at my house or go to the pub with him. But that’s not what it’s about. It’s about business and the presidency, so absolutely, I’d have him in the White House.”

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‘This country loves people who are the bad guy’

Playing the gaming machines, Eric, on holiday from Washington state, is undecided which way he will vote but thinks Trump is a sure thing to be president again.

“I’m already preparing myself for him to be president,” he says. “I think he’ll have more support now than he had even before. This country loves people who are the bad guy. He’s so controversial and that’s how he ended up winning the first time.”

I ask if he thinks Donald Trump will receive a prison sentence for his crimes.

“If he does go to prison it will be a country club-type prison,” he says. “He won’t be in the sort of prison where people get beaten up. It’s his secret service detail I feel sorry for because that’s the worst assignment of your life.”

Read more:
Seven things that nailed Donald Trump
Will Trump conviction affect his campaign?

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‘He’s never really had a good reputation with women’

Nevada is not only a state that could be key to Trump’s political future, it is also at the heart of his conviction for falsifying business records.

An hour’s drive away from Reno, on the banks of the stunning Lake Tahoe, is the Edgewood golf resort.

It was here that Donald Trump first met porn star Stormy Daniels.

She told the court during the trial that in a hotel room here, she “spanked” the former president on the “butt”.

They are salacious details that Democrats hope will still be ringing loudly in voters’ ears in November.

Elizabeth, a first-time voter from Washoe County, the swingiest county in Nevada, hopes that will be the case.

“I think the trial has been saying everything that he’s already said himself,” she says.

“He’s never really had a good reputation with women. I was never really a Trump supporter to begin with. But I do hope that it sways people who do vote for him.

“I think that it definitely reflects on who he is and how he’s going to be running the country.”

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‘I don’t like Biden either’

Retiree Jan was a lifelong Republican voter but said she has not voted for Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections because she “couldn’t bring herself to do so”.

This time she does not know how she will vote.

“I don’t know if I can vote for a convicted felon,” she says. “But I don’t like Biden either.

“We have no choices, unfortunately. No good choices, I should say.”

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If Donald Trump is to be president again, he will have to focus his campaigning in key battlegrounds like Nevada and win over undecided voters like Jan.

But has his conviction taken the shine off in the silver state? We will soon find out.

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