Former President Donald Trump’s mounting legal problems are not hurting his broad base of support among GOP voters, and in fact, they appear to be strengthening him, according to a new analysis of polling data.

Axios reported that, on the eve of the first GOP primary debate, none of Trump’s rivals have managed to catch on with the Republican base. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was within earshot of catching Trump earlier this year, according to polling data, has consistently lost ground over the past couple of months.

That’s not necessarily because of anything he’s done as much as it appears as though the more Trump gets indicted by Democratic prosecutors, the more sympathy he appears to be building. And that has only strengthened and grown his support over a total of 91 criminal counts.

“In Iowa, Trump enjoys a more than 20-point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis among likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers, according to an NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll released Monday,” Axios reported.

“The poll — conducted Aug. 13-17 — echoed a new CBS News/YouGov poll published Sunday, which showed 62% of likely GOP primary voters support Trump while 16% support DeSantis,” the outlet added, noting further that “77% of likely GOP primary voters believe Trump’s indictment in the Georgia case is politically motivated, according to the CBS News/YouGov, which was conducted Aug. 16-18.”

An NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll, meanwhile, found Trump beating DeSantis by 18 points, 38-20 percent. But after Trump’s Fulton County, Ga., indictment, his lead in that survey increased 43-18 percent.

Not surprisingly, there is a large partisan divide between American voters as to whether they believe Trump should be prosecuted. “85% of Republicans think Trump should not be prosecuted, while 95% of Democrats and 57% of Independents believe he should be, according to a national polling report from Quinnipiac University published last week but conducted before the Georgia indictment came down,” Axios reported.

The outlet also noted that several major Republican donors are still attempting to woo an alternative candidate to Trump to enter the 2024 primary, including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has said he remains laser-focused on building Republican leads in statewide elections in November.

On Sunday, meanwhile, a top CNN anchor appeared to be taken aback during a show segment on Sunday after learning from a network polling analyst former President Donald Trump is “in a stronger position” now than he was in 2020.

In an interview with host Jim Acosta, analyst Harry Enten said current polling data suggest that Trump appears to be gaining momentum at a clip unseen during his last campaign, which occurred at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an interview with host Jim Acosta, analyst Harry Enten said current polling data suggest that Trump appears to be gaining momentum at a clip unseen during his last campaign, which occurred at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Citing a Quinnipiac University survey from February, Enten noted that at the time President Joe Biden led by 2 points, but now, Biden is only up by one point, “well within the margin of error,” he said.

Advertisement

“But take away one thing from this and one thing only if you take away only one thing, and that is, I think there are a lot of Democrats who simply can’t believe that Donald Trump can be elected president again — the polling indicates that Trump is, in fact, in a stronger position at this point than he was during the entire 2020 campaign, according to the national polls,” Enten continued.

He went on to speculate that “if we had state-level polling, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Trump were ahead in the swing states that are most important,” he added.

Advertisement

That update appeared to shock Acosta.

“When the race is that close, it comes down to the Electoral College, and who knows what happens with that,” Acosta began. “We don’t even have those kinds of numbers just yet.

“But from a national standpoint, you’re absolutely right. It is remarkable where Trump stands right now when it comes to the rest of this field and with general election voters,” he added.