Trump jumps in the presidential polls after indictment

Getting indicted on federal charges might be enough to end the careers of nearly any American politician but the move to hold Donald Trump accountable for the crimes he’s allegedly committed has only worked to bolster his popularity among Republicans. 

A new poll for NBC News showed 51% of likely GOP primary voters said they’d pick the former president as their number one choice for the Republican presidential nomination, a five-point jump from Trump’s pre-indictment number in April according to The Hill. 

The news the former president had actually gained in popularity among Republicans in the wake of his indictments contradicted an earlier CNN poll that found Trump’s support had softened by six points immediately after he was indicted on 37 federal charges. 

Overall, the CNN poll found support for Trump as their choice for the GOP nomination had reached 43% and was down from the former president’s May high of 53%, which shows that Trump has recovered just a few weeks out from his federal indictments. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took the second place spot in the NBC News poll but this was nothing for him to get excited about since he only took 22% of the vote, which The Hill noted was a nine-point drop from where the would-be GOP leader was in April. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence also made a bit of a splash and captured 7% of the voters polled while one-time Trump loyalist Chris Christie was able to snatch 5% of the respondents polled—no other candidate picked up more than 4% of GOP voters. 

Interestingly, while a slim majority of likely Republican voters said they wanted Trump to remain as the leader of the party, nearly half of the respondents said they wanted to see someone else take the reins of leadership. 

When asked if they would prefer a different leader of the GOP, 21% of respondents said they would and picked DeSantis as their first choice for the Republican nomination, the former president received the support of 1 in 5 voters from this group, The Hill reported. 

Another 29% of respondents indicated they wanted a new conservative leader who had better personal behavior and would take a different approach than the former president. 

Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, and Chris Christie were all supported as the first choice for the Republican nomination among respondents who said they wanted a better-behaved leader, a sentiment that makes sense if you’re a Republican that’s sick of Trump’s antics. 

Mark Murray is a reporter with NBC News and he pointed out the revelation that half of the Republican voters want to see a new leader “suggests a potential opening for a rival to capture the GOP nomination,” but added Trump has other troubles to worry about. 

For Murray, the former president’s biggest issues will not come from Republican voters but from the general electorate if Trump is able to snatch the GOP nomination and go on to face Joe Biden in 2024. 

“A majority of all registered voters have concerns about Trump after his indictment on federal criminal charges, including 55% of independent voters,” Murray wrote, adding the NBC News poll showed that Biden led Trump by 4 points in an election matchup. 

“But the survey shows that majorities of all registered voters have concerns about both Trump and Biden’s mental and physical health, as well as reservations about either serving another four years as president,” Murray added, so Biden isn’t safe just yet. 

The NBC News poll only really revealed the duality of American politics at this moment in time. Both parties are dominated by aging men, who if elected, would be the oldest people to have ever graced the Oval Office, and it looks like this is the matchup voters will get. 

Biden is unlikely to see a serious challenge from Marianne Williams or Robert Kennedy Jr. while Trump is likely to win the Republican nomination unless drastic changes occur between now and the Republican National Convention.