Former President Donald Trump has established his biggest lead yet over Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday.

Trump leads DeSantis 57% to 18%, a gap that also reflects the governor's lowest score in the presidential primary race this year. Quinnipiac's poll in February showed DeSantis trailing Trump by six percentage points, but he is now behind the former president by 39 percentage points.

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Longshot 2024 candidate Vivek Ramaswamy comes in at third place with 5%, above former Vice President Mike Pence at 4%. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie all received 3% support.

The survey was conducted Aug.10 to 14, capturing voter attitudes after special counsel Jack Smith announced a four-count felony indictment against Trump over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. It did not, however, gauge the public response to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's 41-count indictment Monday night against Trump and 18 others for his actions in Georgia following the 2020 cycle.

Of those surveyed, 54% said Trump should be prosecuted on criminal charges, while 42% said Trump should not be prosecuted. An overwhelming majority of Democrats, 95%, said he should be prosecuted on criminal indictments, as did 57% of independents and only 12% of Republicans. A majority of Republicans, 85%, said he should not be prosecuted.

One factor that may not be welcomed in the Trump campaign is that 64% of Americans said the federal charges were very serious, at 52%, or somewhat serious, at 12%. Only 32% said the charges are not too serious, at 11%, or not serious at all, at 21%. “Not only do a large majority of Americans regard the federal charges as serious, more than half of Americans think the former president should face prosecution,” said Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy.

Additionally, 68% of those surveyed said that if a person is convicted of a felon they shouldn't be eligible for the presidency. Only 23% said if a person is convicted of a felony they should be eligible.

Ahead of the Republican National Committee's first primary debate next week, 57% of Republican or Republican-leaning voters said that it is very important for all 2024 candidates who qualify for the debate to participate and 27% said it was somewhat important. Trump has suggested he may not attend the debate due to his opposition to the RNC's loyalty pledge. He previously said he would make a decision this week on whether he would attend the debate.

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Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and Trump remain virtually tied in a hypothetical general election match-up with 47% supporting Biden and 46% supporting Trump.

More than half of Americans surveyed, 57%, had an unfavorable opinion of Trump compared to 38% who said they had a favorable opinion. DeSantis, Trump's top rival, had a 49% unfavorable rating while 32% said they had a favorable opinion of him. Similarly to Trump, more than half of Americans, 55%, had an unfavorable opinion of Biden while 40% had a favorable opinion.

The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 1,818 adults nationwide and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.