Former US president Donald Trump’s ongoing legal troubles may not have slowed his political career, a new poll taken by YouGov and CBS News between August 16-18 found.
Trump is now holding a strong lead against his Republican competitors with 62% of people polled saying that they would back Trump. Trailing behind Trump is Floridian Governor Ron DeSantis with only 16% backing, Elon Musk-backed Ramaswamy with seven percent, and former Vice President Mike Pence with five percent.
For Trump, the poll proves that any publicity is good publicity. Of the people polled, 91% felt that Republican candidates should focus more on making their own case than making a case against Trump.
While Trump is facing numerous indictments, 77% of the polled individuals expressed that these were politically motivated. In explaining this, many individuals commented that they did not see Trump’s attempt to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election as illegal, as they believe that Joe Biden didn’t win legitimately. Only eight percent solely believed that the Trump indictment was based on the former president's attempted takeover, with 15% saying that they believed it was both politically motivated and due to Trump’s attempt to overturn the election.
Was 2016 a better time?
The poll also found that 99% of the surveyed people felt that things were better in the US under Trump, with 95% saying that Trump fights for people like themselves. 76% said they would consider Trump simply because they felt they know him better than other candidates. 74% said they would consider Trump because they have always been a Trump supporter.
Of those who believe honesty is very important in a candidate, 61% said that they would likely vote for Trump, while only 17% said the same for DeSantis. The theorists behind the poll explained that Trump’s persecution has increased the perception of Trump as honest because Republicans are more likely to view the political system as corrupt. By positioning the corrupt system against Trump, he is conceived as a protagonist character.
In one of the more shocking finds of the survey, a large number of Trump-voting participants expressed that they trusted what Trump would tell them is true (71%) more than they would trust what their friends/family (63%), other conservative media figures (56%), or religious leaders tell them as true.
Can you ever have too much Trump?
In the campaign for the 2024 presidential elections, 44% of respondents had heard more about Trump than about economic and financial issues or social and cultural topics. This may be why 50% of respondents said the campaigns have been too much about Trump.
However, not every respondent was so sick of hearing about Trump. About a third said they felt they heard about him the right amount and a further 19% said they hadn’t heard enough.
Almost two thirds of respondents said they were confident that Trump would beat Biden in the next election, while only 35% had the same confidence in DeSantis.
The confidence in DeSantis has seemingly decreased, as in June 50% of people polled believed he would definitely beat Biden and now that statistic has dropped by 15%. Still, all is not lost as in June 35% of people said that DeSantis had a possibility of beating Biden, while now the number stands at 47%.
So, with all this trust in Trump, why would some participants still consider other candidates? Well, 68% just want to keep their options open, 47% are waiting to see the upcoming debate, 42% think Trump is a little too controversial and only 30% are concerned about Trump’s ongoing legal battles.
While it may appear that the polls carry a lot of consensus, one issue divided the respondents more than others. In asking whether Pence did the right thing by counting the votes on January 6th, only 21% of MAGA supporters felt he did the right thing while 48% of non-MAGA supporters felt he did the right thing. 41% of MAGA supporters said that what Pence did was wrong, while only 15% of MAGA supporters felt the same. 38% of MAGA supporters and 37% of non-MAGA supporters were unsure.