As former President Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla) battle to take the GOP 2024 presidential nominee, a new poll suggests the recent indictments against the 45th president are working in the governor’s favor.
According to a Virginia Commonwealth University poll, in a hypothetical 2024 matchup between the Republican nominee and President Joe Biden, respondents chose DeSantis over Trump.
In a 2022 rematch, 40 percent of pollsters said they would vote for Trump, while 43 percent said they would vote for Biden. Meanwhile, when the opposing candidates were DeSantis and Biden, both secured 41 percent of the support.
The survey also found that 54 percent of respondents disapprove of how Biden handles his job as president— who is currently on vacation again.
Meanwhile, that doesn’t mean bad news for Trump.
Since facing additional indictment charges this week, the former president’s political witch hunt against him has only boosted his chances in the 2024 race.
Several weeks before Trump’s first indictment, Trump had just 43 percent of the vote in Republican polling, according to a RealClearPolitics average.
However, after a grand jury in New York City indicted him over allegedly being in connection to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, his numbers had spiked to 50 percent by the next day.
Following his second indictment for alleged mishandling of classified documents, just two months later, Trump’s polling jumped again, this time to 55 percent.
The former president, though, doesn’t seem too worried about his legal woes. On Thursday, after pleading guilty in a Washington, D.C. court, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “needs one more indictment to ensure my election!”
Trump continues to dominate in polls against his Republican opponents. According to a FiveThirtyEight survey, the 45th president has 53.3 percent support, while DeSantis sits at 14.3 percent.
Other candidates, such as former Vice President Mike Pence, only have 4.9 percent of support, while Nikki Haley has 3.5 percent.