Despite being impeached twice, fighting multiple criminal investigations, and being indicted last month, former President Donald Trump remains atop the field of potential Republican 2024 presidential nominees. But will his latest civil case have any affect on how voters view him?
On Tuesday, Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a lawsuit filed by author E. Jean Carroll, with a New York City jury ordering him to pay her $5 million in damages.
While it may be too early to know how this will affect the public’s perception of him, his past legal challenges have mostly been pushed to the side by his supporters who claim he is the victim of political persecution or those who say the good he does in office outweighs his faults, according to a recent poll.
The poll, conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post, found that Trump was still a leading favorite among the 1,006 adults who participated in the survey, with 51% of respondents listing him as their preferred choice to represent Republicans on the 2024 ballot.
Trump’s nearest challenger was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who 25% of respondents put as their top choice.
Pollers asked respondents their thoughts on the legal trouble that Trump is currently facing and whether or not it affected their support for him. The survey reported that 18% of respondents who thought he should face criminal charges in investigations of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election would still vote for him if he received the Republican nominee.
While the survey was conducted before Tuesday’s ruling, pollsters held follow up interviews with respondents, to gauge how the jury’s decision affected their thoughts and support for the former president.
ABC News reported that several of the respondents remained steadfast in their support for Trump. Those who weren’t all in for the president said their financial worries have played a role in them being willing to overlook his faults and support him in the hypothetical rematch against President Biden.
One respondent told the media outlet that she would still vote for Trump, saying, “because he might be a bad person, but he is a good president.”
The economy has played a major part in respondents’ feelings about who should be the next president, with the poll finding that Americans feel Trump (54%) was better at handling it than Biden (36%).
Americans also showed this sentiment in a Gallup Poll released this week, sharing that they don’t feel Biden has handled the economy well, with inflation gripping the nation for over a year.
According to the Gallup poll, only 35% of respondents had a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in Biden’s ability to recommend the right thing for the economy. Gallup noted that during the Great Recession, former President George W. Bush had a similar confidence score of just 34%.
Still, with months before the Republican primary, and even more before the 2024 election, much remains to be seen about who will be on the ballot for both parties.
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