When former President Donald Trump was first indicted in late March, it quickly became obvious that his
baseline support within the Republican Party was, as usual, holding firm.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of Trump’s most ardent supporters, argued on Sunday that that’s still the case, now that
special counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with
hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and obstructing their retrieval.
In fact, Graham went so far as to say in
an interview with ABC Newsthat Trump “is stronger today politically than he was before. ... We’ll have an election, and we’ll have a trial, but I promise you this: Most Americans believe, most Republicans believe, that the law is used as a weapon against Donald Trump.”
An
ABC News/Ipsos poll found that more people on both sides of the aisle find these federal charges more serious than the charges filed in New York state related to hush money payments made during and after the 2016 election.
Notably, 63% of independents think these charges are a big deal compared to 54% who thought so in April on the earlier charges.
Somewhat surprisingly, the biggest increase is among Republicans in that survey, with 38% seeing Smith’s charges as serious compared to 21% when asked about Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s case in April — still a small number, but a clear increase.
But Graham is also partially right. Just as an
NBC News poll in Aprilfound that more than two-thirds of likely GOP voters viewed Bragg’s indictment as “politically motivated,”
polls released since Trump was indicted last week have likewise shown that the vast majority of Republicans surveyed believe that he’s being targeted for partisan reasons.
A CBS News/YouGov poll, for instance, that found 76% of GOP primary voters were more concerned that the indictment was politically motivated than that the documents were a national security risk.
That same poll also found that Trump still holds a commanding lead over his announced primary opponents, including a near 2 to 1 advantage over
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
GOP voters aren't giving up on Trump yet — but they'd rather he talk about something other than his indictments or the 2020 election.
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