Donald Trump Losing Republican Support After Indictment News: Poll
After being arraigned last week on charges related to a hush money payment to a porn actress ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump has lost support among Republicans, a recent poll shows.
In the survey, conducted March 29-31 by the publication Issues & Insights (I&I) and pollster TIPP and released Monday, Trump—who is pursuing his third bid for the presidency—was still the GOP's favored candidate for president. But he lost 4 percentage points among Republicans in the survey period, during which his March 30 indictment was anticipated, including by Trump himself, who predicted at one point that he would be arrested.
Support for Trump in the 2024 race has dropped from 51 percent to 47 percent within his own party between March and April, "perhaps affected by the media leaks and rumors of his indictment," I&I wrote. The margin of error for the poll, which interviewed 456 Republicans and independents who lean Republican, is plus or minus 5 points.
On Wednesday last week, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 payment by Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. According to prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office, the payment was made to silence the former adult film star about an affair she said she had with Trump a decade earlier. Trump was then reimbursed by the Trump Organization, with the money recorded on the company's books as "legal fees," according to the indictment.
Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing, as well as an affair with Daniels, calling the case against him a political "witch hunt." But the former president's attempts to galvanize his supporters after his arrest appear to have failed to generate a boost in support for his 2024 candidacy.
While Trump's popularity among Republicans has dropped slightly, the I&I/TIPP poll shows that support for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the 2024 Republican presidential candidate is 23 percent in April, up from 22 percent in March.
"Though it might not seem like a lot, it closed the point gap between him and Trump by 17 percent," I&I wrote. "So DeSantis, at least for now, is clearly in the game."
While DeSantis has been widely discussed as a potential 2024 candidate, the governor has not yet confirmed that he is running.
The poll also found that support for President Joe Biden's candidacy in 2024 has dropped among Democrats and independents leaning toward the Democratic Party from March to April, down from 43 to 39 percent. But, unlike the Republicans, Democrats don't really have an alternative to Biden. Eleven percent of respondents to the poll said they weren't sure about whom to support in 2024 or vaguely said they would support "someone else."
Newsweek has contacted the Trump Organization and DeSantis' representatives by email for comment.
