With his first criminal trial underway, former President Donald Trump is expected to spend four days a week inside a New York City courtroom instead of on the campaign trail.

Never before has a United States president had to stand trial in a criminal case, let alone while running to get his old job back.

As President Joe Biden hit the stump in Pennsylvania this week, voters in the key battleground state told Spectrum News they have mixed feelings about Trump being on trial.

“Trump is on trial right now for all these different charges they got on him. And I just didn’t like when he was in [office] the last time. There was too much controversy going on,” Leroy Daniels said while sitting on a bench in downtown Scranton.

A few blocks away, Juli Osoio felt differently.

“To tell you the truth, I’m not concerned about them,” she said.

Near the courthouse in the city center, John Mulgrew said he considered Trump’s legal troubles “too much baggage” to vote for him, but did take issue with the hush money case that’s now underway.

“The one right now in New York about the porn actress, I think that’s wrong,” Mulgrew said. “I think that’s really nit picking on him right there. That should be between him and his wife that he did that.”

When Biden spoke in his childhood home of Scranton on Tuesday, supporters who were waiting in line to get inside told Spectrum News they are outraged by a former president being on trial, but they disagree on whether it will matter in November.

“Everybody’s following the trial and they’ll see what’s going on with that. And the outcome of it’s going to make a big difference,” said Bob Sheridan, the chairman of the Scranton Democratic Party.

As she made her way to get in line for Biden’s event, Rashia Lovely said this about Trump: “If you listen to the word on the street, no one thinks that he’s going to really have to address some of the things that he has done. They kind of think he’s impenetrable at this point.”

Mary Ellen Davison, who was also waiting in line, agreed.

“I think it should impact the race. I don't know if it will because diehard fans, no matter what he does – he said when he started, ‘If I shoot someone on 5th Avenue they’ll still vote me in’ – I think those people will vote for him even if he is found guilty,” she said.

In interviews throughout the week across Pennsylvania, fans of Trump made clear they view his trial differently.

Scranton-area radio host Bob Cordaro said he thinks the trial could actually improve Trump’s standing, reasoning the former president will be less likely to make controversial comments when he’s tied up in court.

“Remember, Biden won by being in the basement. If we have Trump at Mar-a-Lago and in trial, it’ll be an electoral landslide,” Cordaro said.

Trump campaigned in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh County right before the start of his trial.

Joe Vichot, who chairs the county GOP, had the chance to meet Trump at the rally and told Spectrum News Trump is right to frame his legal troubles as a political attack.

“He’s definitely going to wear it as a badge of honor and I think most people agree. I definitely agree,” Vichot said.

An hour south, in Lancaster County – an area Trump won by double digits in 2020 – Stella Sexton, the vice chair of the county Democratic Party, said she’s finding voters are exhausted by Trump’s legal issues as she knocks doors for the Biden campaign.

“Donald Trump is so toxic to these voters, they will crawl across broken glass to vote against him,” Sexton told Spectrum News while door-knocking on Wednesday.

She met Erik Dering, who said this about Trump being on trial: “I hope there will be enough people who are on the fence, and that’s just enough you need for the margin of victory for Biden that will consider that.”

But back in downtown Lancaster, Nitasha Collins felt differently.

“I think Trump should be the president again,” she said. 

When asked if she’s at all worried about the criminal charges Trump is facing, Collins replied, “No, not really.”

Back in 2020, Trump lost Pennsylvania by just 81,000 votes. This time around, the impact of his legal troubles could make or break how well he performs in this key battleground state.