Former President Donald Trump is touting recent poll numbers that show his lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden in potential 2024 face offs.
While speaking on his social media app Truth Social, Trump said, “Polls are looking GREAT! New Poll, 61-19 against DeSanctimonious. Also, winning BIG against “Hopeless” Joe Biden – Hence the Democrats are rolling out their Fake Prosecutors. I hope Republican LEADERS are watching this. An eye for an eye?”
On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records in a Manhattan court. The charges stem from an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg into an alleged hush money payment made during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in relation to an alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels in order to keep her quiet. Trump has denied having any affairs and maintains his innocence in the case.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday, after Trump’s courthouse appearance, the former president has 58 percent of Republicans and Independent’s vote compared to Ron DeSantis’s 21 percent. The poll was conducted between April 5-6, and sampled 1,004 U.S. adults age 18+. The sample includes 464 Democrats, 368 Republicans, and 120 independents. A measure similar to a margin of error was 3.8 percent among all respondents.
Similarly, a recent Morning Consult poll released on April 3, shows Trump holding a 29-point advantage over DeSantis. The survey polled 3,488 potential GOP primary voters from March 31-April 2. The poll has an unweighted margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.
A Rassmussen Reports poll in April also shows Trump holding a seven-point advantage over Biden in a potential 2024 election. Trump gathered 47 percent of the vote to Biden’s 40 percent. The survey polled 971 likely U.S. voters and was conducted on March 30 and April 2-3. There is a 3-point margin of error for this poll.
However, in a recent YouGov poll released on Thursday, Biden outpolls Trump by two points in a potential 2024 race. According to the poll, Trump has 37 percent of the vote compared to Biden’s 39 percent. This poll sampled 1000 U.S. adult citizens from April 4 – 6. The margin of error is ±3.3 percent.
Meanwhile, political analyst and Dillard University Professor Robert Collins told Newsweek on Saturday, “I don’t think Trump is trying to distract from the indictment, instead, he’s trying to use it to his advantage.”
“In the early polls we have seen, his numbers have gone up, and he has increased his lead over Ron DeSantis, which we expected. The indictment will help him in the primary. The challenge is going to be that it is hurting him with independent voters,” Collins continued.
Concluding, Collins said: “His favorable numbers are in the 20s right now with independent voters. So that will hurt him in the general election. The indictment will help him secure the Republican nomination. But it will make it more difficult for him to win against Joe Biden or any other Democrat. The only thing that will change the polling is if we have multiple indictments, maybe two or three, then the voters might start getting indictment fatigue and Trump fatigue. But we won’t know the effect of future indictments until they happen.”
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign via email for comment.
