Despite Judicial Blades and Litigation Risks... 64% of US Republican Voters Say They Will Vote for Trump

Despite various legal risks surrounding former President Donald Trump, including attempts to overturn the presidential election results and the leak of White House classified documents, a survey found that support among Republican voters in the United States remains largely unaffected.

On the 20th (local time), The New York Times (NYT) reported the results of a poll conducted by Siena College from the 10th to the 14th, surveying 1,016 registered voters. The poll showed that 58% of respondents believe "former President Trump committed serious crimes." Additionally, 48% said that Trump's indictment was based on legal grounds regardless of political reasons, which was higher than the 46% who believed it was a political prosecution.

Even under these circumstances, 46% of respondents said they would vote for former President Trump in next year's presidential election, surpassing the 44% who said they would vote for President Joe Biden. In particular, among Republican voters, 62% responded that "even if Trump is convicted, he should be the Republican presidential candidate if he wins the party primary." Only about half as many, 32%, said "he should not be nominated as the Republican candidate if convicted."

Regarding attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, 47% of respondents said former President Trump should be found guilty, while 39% said he should not be found guilty.

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Former President Trump has been indicted four times since leaving office on charges including attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, leaking White House classified documents, and hush money related to sexual misconduct allegations, with a total of 91 charges applied. Despite the ignominious distinction of being the first former or sitting U.S. president to face criminal trials, support for Trump has rather rebounded.

Initially, many in U.S. political circles predicted that these legal risks would hamper Trump's bid as the opposition party's presidential candidate, but analysis shows that actual support has not been significantly affected. On the contrary, 64% of Republican voters said they would vote for Trump if the presidential election were held today. This is a 10 percentage point increase from the 54% recorded in a poll conducted last July.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who will compete against Trump in the party primary, rose to second place with 11% support, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis fell to third place with 9% support.

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