Trump leading DeSantis by 23 points in new South Carolina poll

Former President Trump leads his closest 2024 challenger — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — by 23 points in a South Carolina poll of the hypothetical GOP primary match-up. 

The poll from National Public Affairs released Wednesday showed Trump with 41 percent support among likely GOP primary voters in the state, up from 39 percent last month. DeSantis came in second with 18 percent, a 5-point drop from the 23 percent he had last month. 

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) came in third with 12 percent, followed by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R) with 10 percent. All other candidates included in the poll had support in the single digits. 

Pollsters found widespread support for Trump despite the federal indictment filed against him earlier this month. Almost a third of respondents said the indictment makes them more likely to support Trump, while 40 percent said it does not affect their decision. 

More than half said Trump either did not commit any wrongdoing in the classified and sensitive documents case against him or made a mistake but did not intend to do anything wrong. 

A release states that every candidate other than Trump is trying to compete for self-identified independents. Trump still leads among this group with 28 percent, but Haley is in second with 16 percent, and DeSantis in third with 13 percent. 

The release also found the entrance of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) into the race for the GOP nomination has taken support among independents away from DeSantis and potentially Haley. Christie had support from 11 percent of independents in the poll, driving his 5 percent support overall. 

The poll also found Scott with the highest level of potential support from respondents in the state, taking over from DeSantis. About two-thirds said they would definitely support or strongly or somewhat consider voting for Scott, while 62 percent said the same for DeSantis. 

The poll was conducted among 809 likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina from June 20-21.