Despite facing a federal indictment last week for his handling of documents after leaving the White House in 2021, former President Donald Trump's lead over the 2024 GOP presidential field has increased.
A new Morning Consult poll shows Trump's lead increased by 5 percentage points in the past week.
"Nearly 3 in 5 potential Republican primary (59%) voters back Trump for the party's 2024 presidential nomination, up from 55% last week before news of his indictment on charges related to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House," researchers said in their analysis of the poll. "Almost 1 in 5 (19%) support DeSantis, nearing an all-time low since tracking began in December."
The poll currently has Trump leading the pack of GOP contenders with 59%, DeSantis in second place with 19%, former Vice President Mike Pence at 8%, followed by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., at 4%, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy tied at 3% each, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 2%, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson at 1%.
The poll was conducted with 3,419 potential Republican primary voters June 9-11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, according to Morning Consult.
As a second choice, and removing Trump from the mix, the poll found support for DeSantis would jump to 43% with Pence coming in at 16%, Ramaswamy at 8%, Scott at 6%, and 15% saying they did not know, according to the poll.
Trump also leads DeSantis in favorability among Republican primary voters 76% to 67%, with both tied at a 22% unfavorable rating.
Pence is the only other GOP candidate with a favorability rating above 50%, coming in at 54%, according to the poll.
Christie's favorability rating dropped from 30% to 25% after announcing his second run for the White House, according to the poll.
In a hypothetical general election rematch between Trump and Democratic President Biden, a nationally representative sample of 5,000 registered voters tied with Trump and Biden each getting 42% and 11% wanting a different candidate, and 5% saying they didn't know who they would support.
A similar hypothetical matchup between DeSantis and Biden has DeSantis slightly beating Biden 43% to 39% with the same 11% wanting a different candidate and 7% saying they didn't know, according to the poll.
The hypothetical race polling has a margin of error of plus or minus 1%, according to the organization.
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