Trump Support Dips Below 50% In Key Poll: Is An Overcrowded Field Hurting Odds For DeSantis?

Former president Donald Trump may be seeing his support fall after he became the first president to face federal charges. A new poll shows Trump losing support and other candidates gaining ground.

What Happened: Trump declared his 2024 presidential campaign back in November and has seen strong support in most polls since announcing his efforts.

With news breaking in early June that Trump faces federal charges related to the handling of classified documents at his Mar-A-Lago resort, his support could come into question.

A new poll from CNN conducted by SSRS shows that Trump saw his overall support among Republican voters drop after the federal charges were announced.

In the latest poll, Trump received 47% of the vote, compared to 52% in the same poll one month prior in May.

The poll also asked respondents whether they would consider voting for a candidate or never consider voting for a candidate. Those who would consider voting for Trump remained the same at 31% from May. Those who said they would never vote for Trump went up from 16% in May to 23% in the latest poll.

Ranking behind Trump in the poll is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who got 26% of the vote, in line with the same figure one month ago.

While DeSantis saw his percentage hold steady, other Republican candidates who have entered the race saw an increase in their voter support.

Mike Pence saw his rating go up from 6% to 9%. Tim Scott gained from 2% to 4% over the last month. Chris Christie saw his support grow from 2% to 3%.

Nikki Haley, who was one of the earliest Republicans in the field, saw a drop from 6% to 5% in the June poll.

Following the announcement of federal charges, Trump's favorability rating in the CNN poll fell from 77% in May to 67% in June, indicating a decline in support.

Related Link: Does Trump Indictment Matter To Republicans? Intriguing Insights From A Poll

Why It’s Important: The decline in support for Trump, coupled with the steady rating for DeSantis, led a Twitter user to assert that a change is necessary.

“Haley, Scott, Christie – time to get out of the way,” Twitter user GovRealDeal said.

The remark was made in the context of DeSantis gaining favor among voters potentially at the expense of Trump, but also considering the possibility of an overcrowded candidate field.

While some have shown lower support for Trump, they appear to be shifting to newer candidates in the field like Pence, Scott and Christie. If all the support from those three candidates were to shift to DeSantis, it would make the vote a hypothetical 47% for Trump and 42% for DeSantis in an incredibly close race. Support from Haley shifting to DeSantis could also take the vote to an even 47% assuming all voters of candidates shift to DeSantis and not Trump.

Trump secured the GOP nomination in 2016 after emerging victorious from a packed field of a record 17 candidates within the party.

The comments from RealGovDeal come as it was reported earlier this year that Trump was dominating polls that had more than two GOP candidates and DeSantis fared much stronger in head-to-head polls with Trump with no other candidates offered to respondents.

Trump’s federal charges are far from over, with a new court date scheduled for August 14. With the court case continuing and potentially impacting his campaign, Trump's support could also continue to drop.

Only 26% of Republican voters in the poll said that Trump should drop out of the race due to the federal charges. An additional 16% said Trump should drop out of the race if he is convicted of federal crimes.

Counting all voters, 59% said that Trump should drop out of the race now. An additional 11% said Trump should drop out of the race if he is convicted of federal crimes.

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