As former President Donald Trump faces federal charges for allegedly lying and scheming to keep classified documents at his residence, the most recent national NBC News poll shows both the floor and ceiling of his potential support in the 2024 Republican presidential race.
Trump’s floor of support among Republicans: 37%
According to the April NBC News poll — conducted after a different indictment in New York (in the alleged hush-money case) — 37% of all Republicans identified themselves as Trump-first Republicans, versus 54% who considered themselves party-first Republicans.
The share of Trump-first Republicans in the poll has fallen since the former president’s days in the White House, but it’s inched up since the 2022 midterms, when it was at 30%.
Trump’s ceiling among Republicans: 66%
That’s the combined portion of Republican primary voters who said that Trump was either their No. 1 choice in the GOP race for president (46%) or second choice (20%), the April NBC News poll found.
It’s also similar to the 68% of Republican primary voters who said that the various investigations against Trump are politically motivated and they must support him to keep his opponents from winning.
That's compared to 26% of Republicans who say it’s important to nominate another candidate who will not be distracted and can focus on beating President Joe Biden in Nov. 2024.
