Only 14% of Republicans Say Donald Trump Is Responsible for His Legal Troubles While 61% Blame ‘Political Abuse,' New Poll Reveals
Sept. 5 2023, Published 6:00 p.m. ET
A new poll found that a majority of Republicans believe former President Donald Trump's legal troubles are a result of political abuse rather than his own actions, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a surprising development to come just days after Trump received his fourth criminal indictment in less than five months, CNN conducted a poll that found that more than 60% of Republican voters believe the former president is a victim of political abuse.
According to the poll, a surprising 61% of Republicans viewed the four criminal indictments against Trump as stemming from political motives while only 14% attributed the charges to his behavior.
The remaining 25% of Republican voters polled said they are withholding judgment until the embattled ex-president’s trials start next year.
Meanwhile, the CNN poll also found that a large majority of GOP voters believe Trump’s multiple indictments and potential convictions should have no bearing on his ability to run for president again in 2024.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Trump himself has repeatedly called the more than 90 criminal charges filed against him a political “witch hunt” aimed at “interfering” with his 2024 White House ambitions.
“The American people know what’s going on,” Trump wrote following his arrest in Georgia last month. “What has taken place is a travesty of justice and ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”
“The Left wants to intimidate YOU out of voting for a political outsider who puts the American people FIRST,” he continued. “But today, I walked into the lion’s den with one simple message on behalf of our entire movement: I WILL NEVER SURRENDER OUR MISSION TO SAVE AMERICA.”
Still, CNN’s latest poll found that Trump's legal problems appeared to work in his favor regarding the Republican primary.
The poll revealed that Trump recently expanded his lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is considered the ex-president’s main rival in the GOP presidential race.
52% of Republican voters currently support Trump, while only 18% back DeSantis. A June poll also conducted by CNN found that Trump was leading DeSantis 47% to 26%.
DeSantis had been gaining steadily on Trump in the polls before his first grand jury indictment by a New York earlier this year.
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But despite Trump’s popularity with Republican voters, the newest poll suggested that the embattled ex-president’s legal problems might pose a challenge for Trump in connection to the general election in November 2024.
According to the poll, 51% of the general public believes that the charges related to the January 6 Capitol riot should disqualify Trump from running for president in 2024.
48% reportedly feel the same way about his alleged efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election against then-candidate Joe Biden.
Among the larger sample of participants polled by CNN, a whopping 47% attributed the charges against Trump to his own decisions while 31% agreed with the Republican subgroup that saw the charges as a symptom of political abuse in the system.