After being charged by the Department of Justice for allegedly mishandling classified documents at his Florida residence, former President Donald Trump’s lead in the Republican primary has increased, according to a survey.
In a poll conducted by CBS News between June 9 and June 10 with 1,798 likely voters and a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points, the former president received 61 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, trouncing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by a staggering 38 percentage points (61 percent to 23 percent). South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott is in third place with 4% of the vote, one point clear of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
CBS News Poll: Trump Posts Biggest Lead Yet Over DeSantis
Trump — 61% (+38)
DeSantis — 23%
T. Scott — 4%
Pence — 4%
Haley — 3%
Ramaswamy — 1%
Hutchinson — 1%
Burgum — 1%
Elder — 1%
Christie — 1%CBS Poll (B+) | 06/07-10 | n=586https://t.co/V076JVS4Iw pic.twitter.com/pQjIqvYCV4
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) June 11, 2023
The majority of respondents were concerned that the former president was singled out in the indictment for political rather than legal motives. CBS News asserts:
Republican primary voters say they’re far more concerned that Donald Trump’s indictment is politically motivated than his alleged conduct being a national security risk – and there’s no evidence it’s hurt his status as the clear front-runner for the 2024 nomination, at least not yet. He remains well ahead of rivals in both consideration and vote choice.
In fact, most Republican primary voters would not generally consider him keeping the alleged documents with nuclear systems or military plans to be a national security risk, in and of itself.
Most explicitly ruled out the charges announced in the indictment changing their views about Mr. Trump. Rather than being disqualifying in their eyes, even if he’s ultimately convicted of a crime in the matter, they overwhelmingly feel he should still be able to serve as president again.
According to Breitbart News, the former president also won the straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit on Saturday, approximately twenty-four hours after the complete details of the indictment were made public. In the indictment, the former president was accused of improperly managing highly sensitive material containing nuclear secrets at his residence.
Donald Trump defeated Ron DeSantis, who received 35.8 percent of the vote, with 40.3% of the vote.