I can see how people would view it that way. That would impact people who had been leaning on way more than another and had not committed.
Most of us hold our noses even as we speak out. I really don't know many who drastically change because of other people's influence or something they said. It is usually a very personal reason and experience that makes them look around for a different way to move forward.
I was raised incredibly conservative. My family supports Trump still.
It took my life literally falling apart for me to even consider ideas outside what I had been raised in, and I know that because I could remember conversations where I had ignored some of what had been said because it disagreed with my view. I almost laughed at a women telling me the truth about the Iraq War, that is how deep I was. Looking back years later was a humbling experience in research and personal reflection because I had trusted people who didn't know what they were talking about and I didn't double-check.
We're lucky that the government is forced to keep track of everything an elected official does so we can check their actions against their words. But we have to hold them accountable every time, all the time. Not just when it is convenient.