Former President Donald Trump's historic indictment over allegations he mishandled classified documents doesn't appear to be tempering GOP voter support in New Hampshire.
A New Hampshire Journal/Coefficient poll released on Friday showed only 23% of likely Republican primary voters in the state said Trump is guilty of the 37-count indictment and should be punished. Yet 35% of those surveyed said the former president didn't do anything wrong, and an even higher group, 42%, were unsure of Trump breaking the law but said he is only being targeted for being Donald Trump.
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A more positive sign for Trump: 42% said the indictment made them more likely to support Trump, and 43% said the charges had no impact. Only 15% said they were less likely to support him.
Despite the Department of Justice accusing Trump of violating the Espionage Act, obstructing justice, and making false statements, 60% of New Hampshire GOP primary voters approve of Trump compared with the 29% who disapprove and the 11% who are unsure.
Trump's closest competitor, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), has a 46% approval rating and a 33% disapproval rating among those surveyed. In a match-up with Trump, DeSantis trailed the former president, 49% to 23%, a 26 percentage point difference.
When the entire GOP 2024 presidential field is included, Trump garnered 47% support, DeSantis 13%, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie 9%, and former Vice President Mike Pence 5%. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, long-shot candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) all received 3% of the vote share.
It's a sign that as the 2024 Republican presidential candidate field continues to expand, it's DeSantis, not Trump, who loses support, a fact that Trump allies have taunted as more lawmakers announce campaigns.
Christie, who launched his campaign in the Granite State and is making it key to his winning the nomination, topped the "would never vote for" list at 46%, a sign that his relentless attacks against Trump are not endearing him to voters. Pence follows Christie on the list at 40%, another sign that the former vice president's break with Trump following the 2020 election still haunts his political career.
Although Trump is still dominating in New Hampshire, 26% of voters said they would never vote for him, and 43%, less than half of those surveyed, said he would defeat President Joe Biden in 2024, while 24% said he would lose to Biden.
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New Hampshire is a crucial early nominating state in the GOP primary calendar, second only to the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. Any Trump challenger must have a strong showing in both states to have a credible shot at defeating him for the nomination, a factor for why so many candidates are stumping in the two states. But with Trump's support remaining strong in the face of his legal problems, all other candidates face an uphill climb.
The pollsters surveyed more than 900 New Hampshire Republican primary voters on June 14-16 in the wake of the indictment being announced and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.