Most prospective GOP primary voters are unfazed by the federal indictments leveled against former President Donald Trump, as 76 percent of respondents in a new poll said they are more concerned the charges are politically motivated than they are about any national security risk posed by Trump’s handling of classified government material.
Last week, the Biden administration’s Justice Department announced a 37-count indictment against Trump that included 31 counts of “willful retention of national defense information.”
For its latest poll, CBS News/YouGov interviewed 2,480 U.S. adults between Wednesday and Saturday and recontacted 1,798 respondents on Friday and Saturday after the former president’s indictment was unsealed.
The survey found the charges did not hurt Trump’s chances to win the 2024 Republican primary election.
If anything, the move galvanized many Republicans, who believe the case was concocted to damage his presidential campaign.
When surveyed before the indictments were unsealed, 61 percent of likely GOP primary voters said any charges brought against the billionaire would not affect their view of him.
Moreover, 14 percent said the indictments would make them like Trump even more.
The Justice Department’s case has so little credibility among Republicans that 80 percent of respondents in the CBS News/YouGov poll said Trump should still be able to be president even if he were convicted.
The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 5.5 points for likely Republican primary voters and plus or minus 2.7 points for the overall sample. For the recontacted group, it was plus or minus 3.3 points overall and 6.6 points for likely GOP voters.
“Every time they go after Trump he goes up 10 pts,” Human Events senior editor Jack Posobiec observed as he shared the findings.
Every time they go after Trump he goes up 10pts https://t.co/hQ2FSeL9YE
— Jack Poso ?? (@JackPosobiec) June 12, 2023
Despite the left’s relentless attack on the 45th president, he remains the overwhelming frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
And if Trump were not the nominee, 74 percent of likely Republican voters said they want a candidate who’s similar to him, according to the full survey.
The economy remains the top priority among GOP voters, as 90 percent said it’s “very important” that the party’s nominee have a plan to reduce inflation, which has surged under President Joe Biden.
This sentiment was shared along party lines, as 63 percent of all poll respondents believe the economy is doing badly.
Moreover, 64 percent disapprove of the way Biden is handling the economy. So it’s not just Republicans who are dissatisfied with the crushing inflation that has metastasized under this administration.
cbsnews_20230611_1 by Caroline Linton
In another sharp rebuke of Biden‘s dumpster-fire presidency, 70 percent of respondents said things are going badly in the nation, with 34 percent saying “very badly.”
This is a sad and sobering reflection of the state of affairs in America today.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
