In a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, 57% of Republicans and GOP-leaning Independents said they would vote for Trump, while 31% were behind DeSantis.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Former President Donald Trump was already the front-runner among Republicans in the 2024 race for the White House, edging out a likely but yet-to-be-announced contender in Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.
But with his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury, Trump has surged ahead in a head-to-head matchup against DeSantis in a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, beating the Sunshine State politician by 26 percentage points among registered Republican voters and Independents who lean Republican.
In the poll, 57% of those asked said they would vote for Trump, while 31% indicated that they would back DeSantis, which was one of the first surveys to be conducted after Thursday's indictment.
In a wider match that includes eight other potential GOP candidates, 52% of Republican and likely Republican voters opted for Trump while just 21% polled for DeSantis. The next highest candidate was former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, who earned 5% support in the survey.
In a matchup between President Joe Biden and Trump, the Democratic commander-in-chief narrowly bested Trump, 45% to 43%, among registered voters.
The YouGov survey of 1,089 adults was conducted in the first 24 hours after the indictment was announced, on March 30 and March 31, according to Yahoo News.
The New York grand jury voted to indict Trump on Thursday after weeks of hearing evidence in the investigation of hush money paid to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels in advance of the 2016 election. As the first former US president to be charged with a crime, Trump faces over 30 charges in the indictment, according to a CNN report.
Even before the indictment was public, Trump was using his likely indictment as a fundraising tool as he has gone full-steam ahead in seeking to capture the Republican presidential nomination for the third time.
Trump's current standing in the Yahoo News/YouGov survey is reflective of what many have said about a potential indictment galvanizing support among Republicans, who have overwhelmingly indicated that they feel as though the investigations into the former president are overtly political in nature.
Two weeks ago, Trump's lead was still in the single digits, with 47% of registered Republicans and GOP-leaning Independents favoring Trump as their presidential nominee, while 39% of respondents picked DeSantis, according to a previous Yahoo News/YouGov poll.
In a Yahoo News/YouGov survey conducted February, DeSantis even held a slight four-point lead (45%-41%) over Trump in a two-way race. However, Trump regained a three-point lead (38%-35%) over DeSantis when Haley was added to the mix.
