Trump, Who Struck Gold with 'Mugshot Goods,' Has a 62% Chance of Reelection?

Support for former U.S. President Donald Trump, who was indicted on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election results, has dramatically rebounded. Despite engaging in the unusual act of selling 'mugshot goods' to raise campaign funds and skipping the Republican primary debate, he recorded an overwhelming first place in public opinion polls.

According to political media outlet The Hill on the 29th (local time), a poll conducted by market research firm Morning Consult showed that 62% of Republican respondents supported former President Trump. This represents a 9 percentage point increase from the 53% support recorded in the poll conducted on the 20th, matching the highest level ever recorded in April.

He led by a wide margin, with a 49 percentage point gap over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who ranked second with 13%. Following were entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (6%), former Vice President Mike Pence (5%), former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (3%), former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Senator Tim Scott (1%).

The poll surveyed 777 Republican primary voters from the 24th to the 27th. This came after former President Trump, who was criminally indicted in connection with attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, appeared before the Georgia prosecutor and became the first current or former U.S. president to have a mugshot taken. The next day, on the 23rd, Trump was the only candidate to skip the first Republican primary debate hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stating that as the frontrunner, he did not feel the need to participate in the debate.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Most candidates who attended the Republican presidential debate saw their support decline afterward, leading to evaluations that former President Trump's bulldozer-style election strategy was effective.

Trump's campaign began selling mugshot goods?such as T-shirts, shot glasses, mugs, and posters?through the official campaign fundraising website's online store immediately after the mugshot was released. The goods, featuring the phrase "NEVER SURRENDER!", were sold at prices ranging from $12 to $34. Politico reported, citing the Trump campaign, that $4.18 million (approximately 5.547 billion KRW) was raised on the day the mugshot was taken, marking the highest daily fundraising amount in the campaign so far.

The New York Times (NYT) criticized, "Trump is normalizing the abnormal by trivializing serious crimes to a cheap everyday level," and added, "The fandom politics that unconditionally supports him regardless of right or wrong is turning the mugshot goods into memorabilia that must be acquired." The British Guardian reported, "Former President Trump is using the mugshot as a favorable narrative, transforming it from a mark of disgrace into a badge of honor," and noted, "Shamelessness can be a superpower, and Trump has proven this repeatedly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.