
<p>Support for former President Donald Trump has exploded in recent weeks following his warning about being arrested.  ;</p>



<p>“The far &; away leading Republican candidate and former President of the United States of America, will be arrested on Tuesday of next week,&#8221; wrote Trump in mid-March. &#8220;Protest, take our nation back!” </p>



<p>According to a Rasmussen poll conducted during the first week of April, Trump wins a hypothetical match-up against President Joe Biden with a vote of 47% to 40%. ;A separate poll shows him defeating potential GOP rival Ron DeSantis with a vote of 47% to 46%.</p>



<p>These numbers represent a dramatic change from February, when polls showed Trump losing to Biden with a vote of 42% to 45% and losing to DeSantis with a vote of 40% to 53%.</p>



<p>“This is a 10-point net gain for Donald Trump,” notes political strategist Dick Morris. “Former President Trump has completely turned around the 2024 race for president.” ;</p>



<p>“DeSantis might be the buzz in the GOP conversation, but for now, Trump is seeing no erosion and, in fact, enjoys a bump in his lead in the Republican primary,” adds Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy. ;</p>



<p>Trump confirmed his intentions to run in the 2024 presidential election last November. By law, an indictment or even a conviction of felony does not prevent someone from running for president. </p>



<p>On March 30th, Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 34 felony charges related to a hush money payment made to former porn star Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen, his former lawyer. Trump was placed under arrest on April 4th and pleaded not guilty to all charges before he was arraigned. </p>



<p>According to a poll conducted by CNN, a majority of Republican voters do not believe that Trump did anything illegal. Roughly half of respondents said that his alleged crime of falsifying business records to conceal the payment to Daniels (in order to hide an extramarital affair with her) was unethical but not illegal; more than 20% said his actions were “not wrong at all.”</p>



<p>On a brighter note, Trump&#8217;s campaign benefitted from the indictment by raking in more than $4 million in donations during the 24 hours immediately following the announcement. ;</p>



<p>The former president flew home to his Mar-a-Lago estate directly after the hearing, where he was greeted by hundreds of fans. Trump told his supporters that the charges against him represented “massive election interference at a scale never seen before in our country” and said the ‘only crime he had committed was to fearlessly defend this nation from those who seek to destroy it.’ </p>



<p><em>The next in-person hearing for Trump’s case is scheduled to take place December 4th in New York. </em></p>



<p><strong>Author’s Note: ;</strong></p>



<p>A surge in support is exactly what Trump had been hoping for. Shortly after news of the indictment reached the media, the former president sent a fundraising email promising the “witch hunt” led against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg would “backfire massively.”</p>



<p><em>As noted by former Vice President Mike Pence during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Bragg actually ran for office on promises to indict Donald Trump. ;</em></p>



<p><strong>Sources: </strong></p>



<p><a href="https://www.pahomepage.com/news/can-trump-still-run-for-president-in-2024/">Can Trump still run for President in 2024?</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.newsmax.com/politics/trump-biden-rasmussen/2023/04/05/id/1115150/">Rasmussen Poll Stunner: Trump Gains 10 Points on Biden Since Indictment ;</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/trump-indictment-arrest-protests.html">Trump Claims His Arrest Is Imminent and Calls for Protests, Echoing Jan. 6 ;</a></p>



<p><a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3928828-trumps-fundraising-efforts-after-indictment-pay-off-with-over-4-million-raised/">Trump’s fundraising efforts after indictment pay off, with over $4 million raised ;</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/30/politics/donald-trump-indictment/index.html">Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury on more than 30 counts related to business fraud ;</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-widens-lead-over-desantis-2024-gop-presidential-nomination-showdown-poll">Trump widens lead over DeSantis in 2024 GOP presidential nomination showdown: poll ;</a></p>



<p><a href="https://time.com/6268048/donald-trump-indictment-polling/">What Polling Says About the Politics of Trump’s Indictment ;</a></p>

Polls Show Democrats’ Attack on Trump is Backfiring
