Donald Trump’s support among California Republicans is on rise despite indictments, new poll says
Former President Donald Trump is on track to win a majority of California Republican voters in next year’s primary despite multiple criminal indictments, a new poll says.
A Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll released this week shows Trump as the choice of 55% of likely Republican voters in the March 5 presidential primary. That’s an increase of 11 percentage points from three months ago, showing that criminal investigations and cases have done nothing to deter Republican support.
According to a memo from Berkeley IGS Poll Director Mark DiCamillo, Trump’s surge comes largely at the expense of his closest political rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who briefly led among California voters earlier this year.
Now, just 16% of California Republicans back DeSantis.
No other Republican candidate netted more than single-digit support in the survey.
If Trump’s support holds, he is likely to scoop up all 169 GOP presidential delegates in California, the most populous state. That’s because he would be the beneficiary of a recent rules change by the state party that awards all delegates to a candidate who receives more than half of the vote. It would give Trump nearly 14% of the delegate total needed to secure the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Despite that lead, the poll also shows that deep blue California backs incumbent President Joe Biden over Trump, 51% to 31%. Biden also appears to be handily deflecting a primary challenge from anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and self-help author Marianne Williamson. Kennedy got just 9% support compared to Biden’s 66%, while Williamson netted 3%.
The poll, which was partially funded by the Los Angeles Times, was conducted in English and Spanish between Aug. 24 and Aug. 29, with 6,030 California registered voters surveyed online, including 2,833 likely Democratic voters and 1,175 likely Republican voters.
This story was originally published September 6, 2023 at 10:52 AM with the headline "Donald Trump’s support among California Republicans is on rise despite indictments, new poll says."