Republican voters remain overwhelmingly loyal to former President Trump after he was charged with several federal crimes related to his possession of classified documents after his presidency, recent polls show.
Why it matters: Despite the charges, Trump is still the favorite for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, according to recent polling. Even some of his fellow candidates have lent support to Trump and questioned the motivation behind the indictment.
By the numbers: An ABC News/Ipsos survey published on Sunday found that 80% of polled Republicans said they believe the charges against Trump are politically motivated, while only 9% of GOP voters said they didn’t see politics in the charges.
Separately, in a CBS News/YouGov poll published on Sunday, 61% of polled Republican voters said the indictment did not change the way they viewed Trump, while 80% of Republicans said he should still be able to assume office if he’s convicted and wins the 2024 presidential election.
The CBS News/YouGov poll also found 76% of Republican voters believe the charges were motivated by politics.
Yes, but: The ABC News/Ipsos found that nearly half (48%) of Americans believe Trump should have been charged over the classified documents investigation, and 17% said they were unsure.
69% of respondents to the CBS News/YouGov poll said they believe Trump’s retention of the documents was a national security risk.
Of note: Trump was the clear front-runner for the 2024 nomination in the CBS News/YouGov survey, holding a nearly three-to-one vote preference over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his next closest competitor.
Context: The Justice Department has charged Trump with at least 37 felony counts related to retaining classified information and obstruction of justice for his handling of classified documents after he left the White House.
The indictment alleged that his possession and conduct with the documents posed a national security risk, as they contained classified information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of the U.S. and foreign countries, U.S. nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies to military attack and other sensitive material.
It also alleged that the former president stored the classified documents in public and unsecured spaces throughout his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida — including a ballroom and bathroom — and also showed classified documents to others two different times in 2021.
The big picture: The criminal indictment is Trump’s second. He was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records by a Manhattan grand jury earlier this year, to which the former president pleaded not guilty.
Polls also showed that those charges, stemming from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office investigation into payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and other women during the 2016 presidential election, unified many Republicans around Trump.
Though Trump has been criminally charged, he is not barred from running for or assuming presidential office — even if convicted, Axios’ April Rubin reports.
One of the bizarre dynamics that has been exposed since the indictment came out is that Trump supporters theorize that their own assessment of the law (adopted from Trump, Hannity and other loyalists) is somehow more robust than the assessment of the Justice Department or of people like Bill Barr. Because Trump has been so effective at convincing his supporters that the legal system is out to get him — a belief that Barr himself helped to bolster! — the former president’s self-serving claims about the case are accepted by default.
In a CBS News-YouGov poll released over the weekend, three-quarters of likely Republican primary voters said the indictment was politically motivated. Three-quarters also said the indictment doesn’t change their view of Trump or improves their view (though that’s almost certainly just a way for respondents to emphasize how little they care).
There is no voice who could convince Trump’s most energetic supporters of the idea that he willfully violated the law. There never has been. Anyone who tries to present the reality of the situation to his base, however close they were to Trump at the outset, is immediately exiled.
The truth has no place in Trumpism.
I would just add that for all the same reasons, there is no way to paint Trump as a loser. He’s convinced them that the election was stolen and nothing will ever change their minds.