Almost one-quarter of Trump voters say he shouldn’t be GOP nominee if convicted: Poll

Almost a quarter of former President Donald Trump‘s supporters said he should not become the Republican presidential nominee in 2024 if he is convicted of a crime, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll.

The poll released on Wednesday showed that 24% of Republican voters who would vote for Trump next year said that “even if he has won the most votes in the primary,” if he is convicted, Trump should not become the GOP’s standard-bearer.

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Trump faces 91 indictments across four criminal cases and is in the middle of a $250 million New York civil fraud trial. And on Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled he should not appear on the state’s presidential primary ballot, citing Trump’s violation of the 14th Amendment, which bars anyone who has incited an insurrection from office. The former president will spend some time in the primary nominating contests in court as he battles the charges.

Despite the legal baggage, Trump remains the leader of the Republican primary field by double digits. Trump has painted himself as the victim of the “weaponization” of the Department of Justice and FBI, calling on his party to support him against the “deep state.” And to a large extent, it has worked.

An overwhelming majority of Trump supporters surveyed, 70%, said he should be the GOP nominee if he “won the most votes in the primary, even if he is convicted of a crime.” And 84% of his supporters said the charges against him “are mostly politically motivated,” while 12% said he was “charged mostly because prosecutors believed he committed crimes.”

However, the poll indicates there is some limit to Trump’s advantageous lead. Two of the four criminal cases Trump faces are related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. While 72% of his supporters said he should not be sentenced to prison if convicted, 20% of his supporters said he should be sentenced if convicted. Another 23% of his supporters said he committed “serious federal crimes.”

Trump’s legal drama could cost him enough votes to ensure a second loss in 2024 if he were to get the nomination.

A set of New York Times/Siena College polls last month showed Trump losing around 6% of voters to President Joe Biden across five battleground states that could decide the fate of the presidency — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.

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But Trump’s allies have repeatedly signaled they will not abandon him if he were convicted.

“I’ve been traveling all over the country for his campaign,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), one of Trump’s staunchest defenders. “Everyone is solidly supporting him. The only theory that exists about that garbage is up here in this stupid city. He’s going to blow away the primary whether he’s sitting in a jail cell or not. Everybody hates this government, they think it’s a bunch of communist bulls***, and he’s going to win the general [election].”

Cami Mondeaux contributed to this story.