Not only does former President Donald Trump now hold his largest lead yet over the GOP primary field (46 points) in the latest CBS News/YouGov poll, but most of those who would vote for him say indictments only give them more of a reason to back him.
Notably, those polled were more likely to believe what Trump is saying is true than their own "friends & family," conservative media, and even religious leaders. Also, those who say honesty is very important chose Trump (61%) by nearly the same margins over the field (17% and below).
Trump leads Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis 62%-16% in the national poll of likely GOP primary voters, as DeSantis has lost support and the rest of the field is in single digits:
- Trump 62%
- DeSantis 16%
- Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy 7%
- Vice President Mike Pence 5%
- Sen. Tim Scott 3%
- Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley 2%
- Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie 2%
- North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum 1%
- Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson 1%
Former Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, conservative broadcaster Larry Elder, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez will received less than 1% support.
Trump is likely to skip Wednesday's debate, but 91% of GOP primary voters want the challengers to make their own case and not stick to making the case against Trump (just 9%).
With regard to the four indictments against Trump, the poll found that 77% see them as politically motivated; and 73% say the indictments are a reason to consider voting for Trump. Only 27% say they are not a reason to vote for him.
Trump's base is incredibly loyal in the poll, as 99% say things were better under Trump; 95% say Trump fights for them; 76% know him better than they know his challengers; and 74% say they have always been a supporter.
Also, remarkably, Trump drew higher ratings from those who say what he is saying is true (71%) than:
- Friends & family 63%
- Conservative media figures 56%
- Religious leaders 42%
YouGov conducted the poll for CBS News Aug. 16-18 among 538 likely GOP primary voters and 2,061 U.S. adult residents. The margins of error were plus or minus 5.7 percentage points and plus or minus 3.0 percentage points, respectively.
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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