About half of Republicans would not vote for former President Donald Trump if he were convicted of a felony according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Thursday.
The two-day poll, which closed before Trump appeared in court and pleaded not guilty in the latest indictment against him, asked respondents if they would vote for Trump for president next year if he were "convicted of a felony crime by a jury."
Among Republicans, 45% said they would not vote for him, more than the 35% who said they would. The rest said they didn't know.
Asked if they would vote for Trump if he were "currently serving time in prison," 52% of Republicans said they would not, compared to 28% who said they would.
The new poll showed that Republicans broadly sympathize with Trump's accusations of political persecution. 75% of Republican respondents agreed with a statement that the charges against Trump were "politically motivated." 20% disagreed and the rest said they didn't know.
About two-thirds of Republicans - 66% - described as "not believable" the accusation in Trump's latest indictment that he solicited election fraud. 29% said it was believable and the rest were not sure.
Republican respondents also described themselves as more likely to withhold their votes on Election Day from an unnamed convicted felon than one named Donald Trump. When asked how a felony conviction would affect their voting in an abstract sense, 71% of Republicans said they would not vote for the convict, compared to 52% if it were Trump.
In addition to the indictment that Trump led a conspiracy to overturn his loss in the 2020 election, he has separately been charged in two other criminal cases: one in a New York state court which revolves around hush money payments to actress Stormy Daniels; and another in federal court where he is charged with retaining sensitive and classified national security documents after he left office in January 2021.
Trump had continuously achieved good numbers in polls, even after his first two indictments.
A New York Times/Siena College poll published on Monday found that Trump is leading his nearest challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by a landslide 37 percentage points nationally among the likely Republican primary electorate.
Overall, Trump led DeSantis 54 percent to 17 percent. No other candidate topped 3 percent support in the poll: Former Vice President Mike Pence, Senator Tim Scott and Nikki Haley all won 3 percent, while Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie won 2 percent.