Far Ahead of Formerly Trailing Governor DeSantis
Pro-Trump Sentiment Growing Within the Republican Party
Donald Trump, the former U.S. president who became the first in history to be criminally indicted, has seen his approval rating actually rise.
Yahoo-YouGov released a poll on the 1st (local time) surveying 1,089 American adults who support the Republican Party.
According to the survey, former President Trump's approval rating stood at 52%, far ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who came in second with 21%. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (5%) and former Vice President Mike Pence (3%) followed.
In a hypothetical one-on-one matchup against Governor DeSantis, former President Trump led with 57% approval, 26 percentage points (p) ahead of DeSantis. Considering that in a February survey he trailed DeSantis by 4 percentage points, this marks a dramatic rebound.
The reason former President Trump outpaced Governor DeSantis in this poll is largely interpreted as the indictment rallying his support base. Within a day of the indictment, Trump raised $4 million (approximately 5.2 billion KRW) in political donations, with over 25% reportedly coming from first-time donors.
Even within the Republican Party, there is a mood to defend former President Trump. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy strongly criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who decided on the indictment, saying he will hold him accountable for "unprecedented abuse of power."
Governor DeSantis, a competitor of former President Trump, also defended him, stating that "the law has been weaponized for political purposes."
Public opinion on this indictment is sharply divided. In the Yahoo-YouGov poll, 39% of respondents said they were "satisfied" with the indictment of former President Trump, while 37% said they were "angry or dissatisfied," showing a relatively close split.
Additionally, responses were nearly evenly split on whether the indictment was "a pure effort to hold former President Trump accountable" (42%) or "political bias" (43%).
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