Following the Department of Justice’s charge of him for allegedly mishandling secret documents at his Florida residence, a survey shows that former President Donald Trump’s lead in the GOP primary has grown.
In a poll conducted by CBS News between June 9 and 10, which included 1,798 likely voters and had a margin of error of 3.3 points, the former president received 61 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, outpacing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by a stunning 38 points (61 percent to 23 percent). With only 4% of the vote, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is in third place, one point ahead of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
CBS News Poll: Trump Posts Biggest Lead Yet Over DeSantis
Trump — 61% (+38)
DeSantis — 23%
T. Scott — 4%
Pence — 4%
Haley — 3%
Ramaswamy — 1%
Hutchinson — 1%
Burgum — 1%
Elder — 1%
Christie — 1%CBS Poll (B+) | 06/07-10 | n=586https://t.co/V076JVS4Iw pic.twitter.com/pQjIqvYCV4
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) June 11, 2023
A majority of respondents surveyed were concerned that the former president had been singled out for political rather than legal reasons in the indictment. CBS News claims:
Republican primary voters say they’re far more concerned that Donald Trump’s indictment is politically motivated than his alleged conduct being a national security risk – and there’s no evidence it’s hurt his status as the clear front-runner for the 2024 nomination, at least not yet. He remains well ahead of rivals in both consideration and vote choice.
In fact, most Republican primary voters would not generally consider him keeping the alleged documents with nuclear systems or military plans to be a national security risk, in and of itself.
Most explicitly ruled out the charges announced in the indictment changing their views about Mr. Trump. Rather than being disqualifying in their eyes, even if he’s ultimately convicted of a crime in the matter, they overwhelmingly feel he should still be able to serve as president again.
The former president also won the straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit on Saturday, according to Breitbart News, which took place around 24 hours after the full specifics of the indictment were made public. The former president was accused in the indictment of handling highly sensitive material containing nuclear secrets improperly at his home.
With 40.3 percent of the vote, Donald Trump defeated Ron DeSantis, who received 35.8 percent of the vote.
THIS SHOULD MAKE THE ‘LORD’ WINCE