Trump remains front-runner despite indictments, Christie among second tier, FDU poll shows

A poll of Republican primary voters shows that Donald Trump is still the front-runner for the party’s nomination in next year’s presidential election.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence make up a second tier of choices in a national poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Despite his indictments, Trump holds a wide lead, but his supporters are also listening to other candidates, and of the Republicans surveyed who think Trump is guilty, Christie leads the pack.

“Trump is still well in the lead,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at FDU and the director of the poll. “But that doesn’t mean that his legal problems aren’t hurting him.”

Exclusive interview:Trump talks federal indictment, court hearing and the 2024 election

The former president has about 58% of support. DeSantis is a distant second with 15%. Both Christie and Pence showed 5% support.

Other confirmed candidates, such as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, all received 3% or less.

Cassino said that has a lot to do with visibility. He said Trump is making headlines, and because of that he’s “sucking all of the air out of the room,” so while “criticisms of Trump have gotten Christie and Pence a lifeline, so far, it’s not enough.”

The poll took Trump’s indictments into consideration by asking half of the respondents about them before asking if they would consider supporting someone other than their initial choice, while the other half were asked after that question.

Nearly half, 48%, of Trump supporters did say they would consider another candidate. Only 17% of Republican primary voters said the indictments are legitimate. That group is considering the candidates differently, though.

In that subsection, Christie has 25% of the support, with DeSantis at 19% and Pence at 16%. Even so, 10% of Republican primary voters said they would still vote for Trump after acknowledging that the indictments against him are justified.

“Christie is doing a great job of reaching Republicans who think that Trump did crimes,” Cassino said. “The problem is that there just aren’t enough yet of them to win a Republican primary.”