Trump is back!
According to a recent poll, former President Donald Trump continues to be the leading contender for the GOP, despite being indicted on federal charges in early June. However, approximately half of the surveyed GOP voters express doubt about his suitability to lead the Republican Party.
According to Fox, The survey conducted by NBC reveals that a majority of Republican voters would choose Trump as their top candidate in the Republican primary, with 51% supporting him. Following Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis received 22% of the votes, securing the second position, while former Vice President Mike Pence came in third with 7%.
These findings are in contrast to the preferences of GOP voters in April, shortly after Trump faced indictment in New York for his involvement in hush-money payments made in 2016. At that time, 46% of Republican voters supported Trump, while 31% favored DeSantis.
Despite pleading not guilty to 37 federal charges related to the mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in June, a combined total of 77% of GOP primary voters expressed either minor concerns (14%) or no real concerns (63%) about the charges. Moreover, 64% of Republican voters believed that the indictments and investigations against Trump were politically motivated.
In comparison, 55% of all registered voters expressed major (47%) or moderate (8%) concerns regarding the charges.
Even when hypothetically matched against DeSantis, Trump maintained his lead as the GOP frontrunner, with 60% of Republican voters supporting him, while DeSantis received only 36% of the support.
However, in a hypothetical scenario pitting Trump against President Joe Biden, Biden emerged as the winner, securing nearly half of the votes (49%), while Trump received 45% support. Notably, 68% of those surveyed expressed concerns about Biden’s mental and physical health, considering them major or moderate concerns.
On the other hand, when asked about their agreement with Trump continuing as the party’s leader, nearly half of GOP voters responded positively. Of those, 21% believed that Trump was a good president but felt it was time to explore other leaders.
In early June, Trump made an appearance at a Miami federal courthouse in relation to the classified documents case. This marked the first instance of a former president facing federal criminal charges. The charges against him include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements.