Trump sees huge poll gains in Massachusetts and New Hampshire before arraignment
Donald Trump is only gaining popularity among Republican voters across the country in the wake of his indictment, as the former president prepares to turn himself in to face charges from the Manhattan District Attorney on Tuesday.
National polls, as well as state polls in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, show voters still support Trump’s third presidential nomination despite being charged in the investigation into his hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Meanwhile, Trump’s 2024 campaign saw a massive $8 million fundraiser in the four days following the indictment.
Donald Trump rises in the polls after his indictment and before his arraignment. The former president arrived at Trump Tower in New York on Monday
A poll in New Hampshire shows Trump has a 24% lead as his polls of Republican voters only increase with the Manhattan District Attorney’s charges against him
A Massachusetts investigation, conducted after a grand jury in Manhattan indicted the ex-president on Thursday, shows Trump has a 24-point lead over runner-up Ron DeSantis, according to a Boston Herald/Opinion Diagnostics poll.
In the main early primary state of New Hampshire, a St. Anselm College poll of GOP voters, Trump has 42 percent of the vote if the primaries were held today, compared to Florida Governor DeSantis’s 29 percent.
Unsurprisingly, of the 603 Republican primary voters polled in the Granite State, 14 percent said they would vote for their incumbent governor Chris Sununu in the nominating contest.
No other candidate included in the poll, whether announced or not, could receive double-digit support from their New Hampshire voting bloc.
Trump earned 45 percent of the hypothetical Republican vote in Massachusetts compared to DeSantis’ 21 percent support, even though Florida’s popular governor has yet to announce his bid for the White House.
Fellow presidential candidate Nikki Haley failed to earn double digits, with 9 percent support and former Vice President Mike Pence, who also has yet to launch an official 2024 campaign, received just 3 percent of the vote.
The results in Massachusetts further speculate that the spoiler candidates and the “never-Trump bloc” could ultimately take advantage of the former president’s changes to clinch the nomination if they don’t align themselves with a single candidate.
A separate poll in Massachusetts also has Trump with a double-digit lead over the runner-up, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has not yet announced a bid for president.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg arrived in court Tuesday to indict former President Trump. He will hold a press conference after the arraignment
When Trump took on DeSantis in Massachusetts, his lead fell by 10 points to just 14 percent over the Florida governor.
Turning to national polls, a Reuters survey released Monday afternoon gave Trump a 29 percent lead, up 4 percent from last month before the indictment was filed.
However, DeSantis saw a huge drop in support in that poll, going from 30 percent in March to just 19 percent after the indictment.
Trump’s campaign boasted about the rising polls in an email blast Tuesday morning — moments before the ex-president is formally charged in Manhattan courts. In the same post, the charges filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg were labeled “phony.”
After the indictment, Trump will return to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida and deliver remarks from his golf club at 8:15 p.m. Bragg will also hold a press conference following the formal charges against the former president and current presidential candidate.
A pro-Trump protester stands outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on Tuesday, April 4 awaiting the former president’s appearance before a judge to be formally charged
Pro- and anti-Trump protesters were separated by barriers on Tuesday in a park across the street from the Manhattan Criminal Courts
Fundraising for Trump’s 2024 campaign rose by more than $8 million in the days following the announcement of his indictment, his senior adviser announced.
Jason Miller, a member of Trump’s entourage who masterminded the campaign, tweeted Monday night that his boss had raised $7 million on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
He later claimed in the early hours of Tuesday morning that another $1.1 million had been raised by Monday.
The four days mark the most lucrative fundraising period for the former president since he left office, and came just hours before he appears in a Manhattan courtroom to face charges stemming from 2016 $130,000 hush money payments to Daniels.