Trump fortunes rise following Fulton County mugshot release

Though Democrats seemed to believe that former President Donald Trump's recent arrest in Georgia would be the final nail in his political coffin, recent polling suggests that just the opposite has occurred, as Breitbart reports.

The news of just how significantly Trump has turned the tables on those hoping for the demise of his 2024 candidacy comes from the latest Economist/YouGov poll, taken after the former president sat for a mugshot at the Fulton County jail.

One of the key questions asked of survey participants was whether they would cast their ballots for Trump or current President Joe Biden if they were the two choices left standing in the next election.

Though the results were undeniably close, 44% of respondents indicated that they would pull the lever for Trump, as opposed to 43% who opted for Biden, and 7% who preferred another candidate entirely.

An additional 3% were unsure as to the candidate they would select, while another 3% said they did not plan to vote under such a scenario.

Perhaps most interesting is the fact that the aforementioned polling is representative of a 4-point increase in support for Trump since the prior iteration of the survey and a single-point decrease for Biden.

The Economist/YouGov poll was conducted between Aug. 26 and 29 and involved 1,500 American adults, and it was characterized by an error margin of plus or minus 3.2%.

As the New York Post explains, the stern-faced mugshot has not just been a boon for Trump's polling status, it has also been the source of a noteable campaign fundraising windfall.

The former president has reported raising roughly $9.4 million in the week following his Georgia surrender, bringing his August total to over $20 million.

Trump, through the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, touted those results last week, saying in a statement, “Since the moment my mugshot was plastered all over the Internet in a vicious attempt to wrongfully turn me into a criminal, our movement has RAISED $9 million from grassroots patriots like YOU.”

He added, “In fact, our campaign recorded its SINGLE GREATEST FUNDRAISING DAY EVER.”

Far from being a shameful symbol of his fourth consecutive criminal indictment, Americans in large numbers viewed the mugshot as a badge of honor, emblematic of someone who continues to fight back against politically motivated persecution.

As evidence of that, the campaign reported having sold approximately 24,000 coffee mugs, 36,000 t-shirts, and 8.600 posters emblazoned with the viral jailhouse image.

The Post noted that the proceeds from merchandise containing the mugshot will not go toward Trump's legal expenses but will instead be used for campaign and other political activities, something that may in part help counter a line of criticism that has frequently been leveled at the former president in recent months.