A surge in support. Packed rallies. Millions in campaign cash raised off a mug shot.
That’s just some of the optimistic thinking from former President Donald Trump’s supporters who say his indictment by a notoriously liberal district attorney in New York City will help propel him to the presidency in 2024.
While many Democrats are celebrating the indictment, polls already show the public is dubious about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s motives for handing down dozens of charges against Mr. Trump over hush money payments he made to adult performer Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal seven years ago.
A Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday, a day before the former president was indicted, found more than 6 in 10 Americans think Mr. Bragg’s case against Mr. Trump “is mainly motivated by politics.”
Supporters said Mr. Trump will enjoy a surge in fundraising and poll numbers now that he has been indicted and is headed for an unprecedented fingerprinting and mugshot in New York City on Tuesday in what many say is a politically motivated effort by the left to take down the GOP’s top 2024 presidential candidate.
“The indictment motivated me to financially contribute to President Trump’s 2024 campaign,” Robert, a voter in Clinton Township, Michigan, told The Washington Times.
Republican political consultant Alex Bruesewitz, who is president of the Trump-aligned XStrategies, said the Bragg indictment will cement GOP support behind Mr. Trump, who has consistently led a field of declared and possible GOP candidates but has a strong competitor in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“There is no path for anyone other than Trump to win the nomination,” Mr. Bruesewitz told The Washington Times. “Even Trump-Haters are beginning to come to that conclusion. We can’t reward Alvin Bragg’s abuse of the system.”
Pollsters say the indictment is likely to energize Mr. Trump’s base, at least in the short term.
“I think it is safe to say that his supporters will be galvanized and rally around him right now, but the longer-term political consequences are impossible to know,” said Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research and the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin and Marshall College.
Mr. Trump is headed to New York City, where he’ll become the first president ever to be charged, fingerprinted and have his mugshot taken. Mr. Bragg is pursuing dozens of charges related to hush money payments that were not deemed criminal when examined by federal prosecutors and occurred so long ago they’ve surpassed New York’s statute of limitations.
“For a liberal DA to indict former President Trump on a flimsy charge that even Biden’s runaway DOJ has dismissed is completely outrageous,” said Rep. Michael Cloud, Texas Republican.
An associate close to Mr. Trump told The Times that the former president is likely to hold a press conference following his New York City booking. He will communicate to supporters that the indictment is about them, not him.
“The Deep State will use anything at their disposal to shut down the one political movement that puts YOU first,” Mr. Trump said Thursday in a social media message soliciting campaign contributions.
Supporters say he can fetch millions in donations off his mug shot, and conservative pundits pondered whether the former president should smile for the jail photographer.
“Trump is going to sign his mugshot photos and sell them and they’ll sell out,” Republican pundit Erick Erickson said.
Mr. Trump has already demonstrated the indictment can fill his campaign coffers. He raised $1.5 million from grassroots donors following his disclosure on his Truth Social media site earlier this month that his indictment was imminent.
The campaign then raised more than $4 million in the 24 hours following the indictment, the campaign said Friday.
“This incredible surge of grassroots contributions confirms that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponization of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor,” the campaign said in an email to supporters.
More than 25% of the donations came from first-time donors to the Trump campaign, “further solidifying President Trump’s status as the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary,” the statement said.
Pollster Jim McLaughlin said Mr. Bragg’s indictment “will backfire,” politically on Democrats as weary voters see the party obsessed with taking down Mr. Trump while failing to fix inflation, crime and out-of-control illegal immigration.
“We’ve actually been talking to voters about it in focus groups over the last week or so, and at least among swing voters, many of which voted for Joe Biden, they are saying to themselves, ‘We’ve got real problems facing this country and this is what they come up with?’” Mr. McLaughin said.
A McLaughlin poll of likely voters released March 23 found Mr. Trump leading Mr. Biden, 48% to 43%. The poll found the majority of voters unhappy about inflation, the economy, the direction of the country and Mr. Biden’s job performance.
Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy, said post-indictment enthusiasm for Mr. Trump may not last.
Mr. Trump enjoyed a brief bump in the polls after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, for documents he brought with him from the White House.
“The GOP rallied around him after the Mar-A-Lago raid, but within a few months the story faded and his poll numbers dropped significantly,” Mr. Coker said. “Same thing could happen here.”
• Dave Boyer contributed to this report.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.