Trump extends GOP field lead after impeachment: polls

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Former President Trump extended his lead in the GOP presidential field following his federal indictment earlier this month, with more than half of Republican primary voters now saying in a survey that the former president is their first will be selected for nomination in 2024.

The latest NBC News poll found that 51 percent of GOP primary voters said Trump would be their first choice for the 2024 Republican nomination, a 5-point jump from April. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in second place, currently holding 22 percent of the vote, a 9-point drop from where he stood in April.

Only 7 percent of respondents said they would choose former Vice President Mike Pence, and 5 percent said they would vote for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

No other Republican candidate received more than 4 percent support in the poll.

While a majority of Republican voters said Trump would be their first choice for the 2024 GOP nomination, Republicans were split on whether he should remain party leader.

Forty-nine percent of Republican voters said the former president should continue to be a leader for the Republican Party – with a majority of the same voters saying Trump was their first choice for the nomination.

However, 21 percent said they would prefer another GOP leader, with the majority of these voters choosing DeSantis as their first choice for the nomination. Trump received support from 1 in 5 of these voters.

Another 29 percent say the GOP needs a new leader with “better personal behavior” as well as a different approach from the former president. These voters preferred DeSantis, Pence, Christie and other candidates as their first choice for the GOP nomination.

The new poll follows Trump’s federal indictment for his handling of classified documents found last year at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Authorities say he hid classified documents at his Florida club and sought to prevent federal officials from obtaining the documents. He pleaded not guilty to all 37 charges.

Trump on Saturday seemed to brag about the indictment, as well as the earlier one in New York, saying they were like a “great badge of courage” during an event at the Faith & Freedom Coalition.

“Whenever radicals leave Democrats, Marxists, communists and fascists accuse me, I consider it a great badge of courage,” said the former president.

“I am sued for you and I believe you are more than 200 million people who love our country,” he added.

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The NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters, conducted June 16 to 20, had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

A CNN poll released last week found that Trump’s lead in the GOP field dropped by 6 points in the wake of the federal indictment.

-Updated at 12:48 pm

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