Despite the onslaught of indictments he has faced in recent months, new polling from the Wall Street Journal reveals that former President Donald Trump still enjoys a sizable lead in the Republican presidential primary stakes, as Fox News reports.
Notably, the survey – released on Saturday – indicated that 59% of all GOP primary voters have thrown their support behind Trump, a figure that represents an 11-point jump since the poll's last iteration back in April.
Trump's lead is all the more impressive in light of the significantly lower levels of voter support garnered by the rest of the primary field.
Ron DeSantis was the only other Republican contender to pull double-digit numbers in the WSJ poll, snagging just 13% support, and since April, Trump's advantage over the Florida governor has almost doubled.
Trailing DeSantis was the remainder of the candidate pool, with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley taking 8% support, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy garnering 5%, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie nabbing 3%, and former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott pulling up the rear with 2% each.
Though Haley, Ramaswamy, and Christie all noticed increases in support since the last time the WSJ poll was conducted, none of the Republican hopefuls has come within anything close to striking distance of Trump.
The WSJ survey asked voters to weigh in on what, if any, impact the recent criminal indictments against Trump have had on their support for the candidate.
Over 60% of those queried on the issue stated that the prosecutions of Trump were politically motivated and likely without merit, with a mere 16% opining that his efforts to stop the certification of the 2020 election results were unlawful.
Nearly 80% of respondents believed that the actions Trump took in the aftermath of the 2020 election were legitimate attempts to confirm the accuracy of the result and to uncover potentially outcome-determinative fraud.
Notably, nearly 50% of those participating in the poll revealed that the indictments of Trump made them even more enthusiastic about supporting his 2024 bid, and just 16% stated that the prosecutions made their support for him less likely.
Not only has Trump been able to maintain his commanding lead in the Republican primary race in the wake of his fourth indictment, his arrest and booking into the Fulton County Jail last month also provided him with a sizable campaign fundraising windfall, as the New York Post notes.
Trump reported raising approximately $9.4 million in the week after his Georgia surrender, during which he sat for a mugshot that almost instantly went viral, with that sum helping to bring his August fundraising haul to more than $20 million.
In a statement made through his Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, Trump said, “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.”
A far cry from the shameful image Democrats seemed to assume the mugshot would be, the defiant visage seen in the photo has been viewed by millions as a badge of honor worn by someone unafraid to fight back against partisan persecution – and judging by recent polling, that sentiment has only intensified in the intervening days.
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