Trump campaign pollster John McLaughlin told Newsmax Monday that judging by a recent survey he conducted, the American people seem to believe the only crime former President Donald Trump has committed is beating President Joe Biden in the polls.
"Among 1,000 likely voters nationwide, Trump is beating Biden 47% to 43%," he said during an appearance on Newsmax's "National Report." "This is all about stopping Donald Trump from winning the presidency again."
"This is a political trial," he said. "This is a political persecution. The only crime that Donald Trump has done is he leads Joe Biden in the polls."
McLaughlin said the survey was conducted last Friday night through Saturday morning, at the request of the Trump campaign, "right after news of the indictment" broke. The results indicate that Trump received a bump in support from voters and has widened his lead over potential challengers for the GOP presidential nomination.
"President Trump, for the first time this year, he's leading the field of 14 potential candidates 51% to DeSantis at 21%, to Mike Pence at 6%, Nikki Haley at 4%," he said. "In a one on one race with Ron DeSantis, while in January Trump was leading DeSantis 52% to 41%, he's now leading DeSantis 63% to 30%."
When asked how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's decision to indict Trump has impacted the former president's standing in the polls and the Republican primary, McLaughlin said, "It's been a total backfire."
"The majority of Americans (71%) think the country's on the wrong track, they think it's backwards (69%), 55% think there's a double standard going on," he said. "This is a political diversion. With campaigns, when you're in trouble, like Biden where all the Chinese money that's coming out, you want to create a diversion. Fifty-five percent of all voters think that this is a double standard that Hunter Biden's going free."
"People think this is an outrage," he added. "We've got serious problems to fix and they think this is rigged against Donald Trump, and he can't get a fair trial there."
While the right to a fair trial is the defining feature of the American justice system, survey participants do not believe that's possible for Trump in Manhattan. Just 37% of voters say Trump can get a fair trial in Manhattan, compared to 47% that say it will not be fair. Among likely GOP primary voters, 72% say the trial will not be fair, compared to just 18% who say it will be fair.
The McLaughlin & Associates poll was conducted March 31-April 1 among 1,000 likely general election voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The margin of error among the subset of 452 likely Republican primary voters is 4.6 percentage points.
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