Trump still has strong lead over DeSantis, Haley following indictment: poll

Former President Trump still maintains a strong lead in a hypothetical Republican primary poll over his other current and potential Republican challengers following his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury.

A Yahoo News-YouGov poll taken after the grand jury approved the indictment against Trump found the former president holding a 31-point lead over his next closest potential GOP rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, with 52 percent of the vote. DeSantis came in second with 21 percent, followed by former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley with 5 percent and former Vice President Mike Pence with 3 percent. 

The rest of the current and possible candidates included in the poll received 2 percent or less, while 11 percent said they were not sure. 

In a head-to-head matchup, Trump leads DeSantis by 26 points, 57 percent to 31 percent, while 12 percent said they were not sure. 

The polls were taken among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. 

Yahoo reported that Trump significantly widened his lead over DeSantis from the poll that it conducted less than two weeks ago, when the former president only led DeSantis by 8 points in a head-to-head matchup. DeSantis led Trump by 4 points in the February poll that Yahoo and YouGov conducted. 

The most recent poll found 54 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents would prefer Trump to be the Republican nominee in 2024, while only a third said they would prefer someone else. That number is three points higher than the 51 percent who said they preferred Trump in the last poll. 

But the poll found results are more split or leaning against Trump when respondents beyond the Republican electorate are included. 

On how people feel about Trump’s indictment, 39 percent of adults said they are enthusiastic or satisfied with it, while 37 percent said they are dissatisfied or angry. Respondents were also split on the motivation behind the indictment against Trump, with 43 percent saying they believe political bias is the primary motivation and 42 percent saying a genuine desire to hold Trump accountable is the motivation. 

But a plurality of respondents said they believe Trump did falsify business records to conceal a hush-money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, with 45 percent saying so. Only 26 percent said he did not, while 29 percent said they were not sure. 

In a hypothetical rematch with President Biden, Trump trails Biden by 2 points among registered voters, 45 percent for Biden to 43 percent for Trump. 

The poll was conducted from March 30 -31 among 1,089 U.S. adults. The margin of error was 3.3 points.