Trump drops below 50 per cent among GOP voters in new CNN poll following second indictment

Former president still remains frontrunner in 2024 primary

Donald Trump’s grasp over the GOP primary base appears to be slipping after the news of his second criminal indictment broke this month.

But a new CNN poll shows that even an active prosecution for alleged criminal retention of classified materials hasn’t undone Mr Trump’s lead over his rivals just yet.

The survey, released on Wednesday, found that Mr Trump’s share of the likely GOP primary vote has dropped below 50 per cent — a welcome sign for his multitude of competitors, including Florida Gov Ron DeSantis and Senator Tim Scott.

But the twice-impeached and now twice-indicted former president still remains in the lead, likely frustrating others in the race who are clearly hoping that the president’s legal problems will hamstring his campaign before they ever have to land a blow.

Mr Trump earned the support of 47 per cent of likely GOP primary voters in the poll, down from 53 per cent in the same survey taken a month earlier. His drop in support comes as roughly seven in 10 Americans say that politics played a role in his second prosecution, according to CNN.

And possibly most worryingly for him, nearly a quarter of GOP voters now say that they would not support him under any circumstances. His overall favourability is dropping among right-leaning voters too, now down to 67 per cent. Just over half, 55 per cent, of all Americans believe that Mr Trump acted illegally in regards to his retention of documents including classified materials from the White House, further outlining the steep climb he will face with independent voters this time around.

Roughly six in 10 Americans say that the indictment was, all things considered, a good idea. And nearly one-third of Republicans who say they support Mr DeSantis or one of Mr Trump’s other rivals agree that the former president likely committed a crime.

The CNN/SRSS poll was conducted entirely after Mr Trump’s second indictment on 37 criminal counts including violations of the Espionage Act took place. The survey, which included results from 1,350 Americans and 561 GOP primary voters, has a margin of error of 3.4 points; 5.2 among the subsample of Republicans.