Just days after former President Donald Trump was indicted on 37 federal charges relating to his handling of documents that he says he declassified, his backing among Republican and Republican-leaning voters appears to mostly stable, according to a national poll conducted by Quinnipiac University and released Wednesday.
The poll was conducted prior to Trump’s arraignment in a Miami court on Tuesday.
“A federal indictment. A court date on a litany of charges. A blizzard of critical media coverage. The negative impact on the former President’s standing with voters? Not much at all,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.
The poll, which ran from June 8-12, presented Republican and Republican-leaning voters with a roster of 10 candidates seeking the GOP nomination for president. Trump emerged as the favorite, securing the support of 53 percent of respondents. His nearest competitor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, trailed significantly with 23 percent backing.
Other candidates in the race found less favor among respondents. Former Vice President Mike Pence, former United Nations Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie each garnered 4% of support. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy received the approval of 3% of participants, while former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson earned 1% support. All other listed Republican candidates recorded less than 1 percent backing.
In a hypothetical general election matchup, the poll indicated a tight race between incumbent President Joe Biden and Trump. Biden held a narrow lead, securing 48% of the vote against Trump’s 44% among all registered voters, close to the margin of error. This represents a minor shift from Quinnipiac University’s previous national poll conducted on May 24th, where Biden had 48% and Trump received 46% of the vote.
President Joe Biden is still strong among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters. Biden retains 70% favoring his candidacy. However, declared candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. garners 17% support, while Marianne Williamson follows with 8%. These numbers suggest that although President Biden has a strong base of support within his party, 30% are willing to look at other options.
Biden received a 42% favorable rating among all types of voters, while 54% expressed an unfavorable opinion of him.
Kennedy, Jr. has a 31% favorable rating, with 26% expressing an unfavorable opinion. Williamson received a 7% favorable rating, accompanied by a 21% unfavorable rating.
In terms of job approval, registered voters gave President Biden a negative 42% rating. However, this marks a slight improvement from the negative 38% rating recorded in a previous poll conducted by Quinnipiac University on May 24.
Among all Americans, President Biden received a negative 41% job approval rating, indicating a modest increase from the negative 36% rating in May.
When asked about specific policy areas, opinions were divided.
On President Biden’s handling of the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 45% of Americans expressed approval, while 47 percent disapproved.
In foreign policy, 39% approved of President Biden’s approach, compared to 53% who disapproved.
On the economy, 38% approved of his actions, whereas 57% expressed disapproval.
His ratings on the federal budget were also low, with 37% approving, while 55% disapproved.
Wednesday’s results are part of a series of close head-to-head results between Biden and Trump recorded by Quinnipiac University since they began tracking this particular metric in February 2023. The findings indicate that despite his legal troubles, Trump’s influence within the Republican Party remains strong, as does his competitiveness in a potential rematch against President Biden.
Read the results of the entire poll at this link.
