Former President Donald Trump is enjoying a post-indictment bounce.
Mr. Trump’s support among potential 2024 Republican primary voters has ticked up 3% to 55% since the news of the indictment broke last week, according to a Morning Consult survey.
Among other likely or announced GOP candidates for the 2024 presidential nomination, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida places a distant second, at 26%, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence, 7%, and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, 4%.
Conducted from March 31 to April 2, the survey included 3,488 potential GOP primary voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2%.
The poll marks Mr. Trump’s second-biggest lead in the 2024 GOP nomination race since Morning Consult started tracking the Republican contest.
Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans have raised concerns that the decision of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to pursue charges for alleged hush money payments to a porn star is not the strongest legal case to bring against the former president and could backfire by making him politically stronger.
The first Yahoo News/YouGov post-indictment poll released over the weekend also showed Mr. Trump had expanded his lead in the 2024 GOP presidential race, with voters rallying around him as he prepared for his arraignment Tuesday in Manhattan.
That survey showed Mr. Trump has a 52% to 31% lead over his closest competitor, Mr. DeSantis, who is expected to enter the race after the Florida legislature adjourns.
Mrs. Haley came in with 5% and Mr. Pence collected 3%.
The Yahoo News/ YouGov poll found 54% of Republican voters would rather see Mr. Trump as the party’s nominee versus 33% who want an alternative.
Voters, meanwhile, were split over whether Mr. Trump should be indicted for falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star, with 42% saying they approve, and 39% saying they disapprove. Asked about the motivation behind the indictment, 43% of respondents cited political bias, versus 42% who said it was out of a genuine desire to hold Mr. Trump accountable.
More voters, 45%, think Mr. Trump is guilty of the crime, compared to 26% who do not think he is guilty and 29% who are not sure.
More than half of the respondents said Mr. Trump should not be able to serve as president if he is convicted of a crime in this case.
The Yahoo News survey was conducted March 30-31. It included 1,089 adults and had a margin of error of 3.3%.
