Another Poll Shows FBI Raid Made Trump More Popular Among Republicans – A fresh poll from The Economist and YouGov revealed on Thursday how the FBI’s unprecedented raid on former President Donald Trump’s Florida home this month increased his support within the Republican party. The poll showed how 57% of Republican voters now have a “very favorable” view of the former president – a significant increase over the 45% seen in the same poll conducted a week earlier.
The poll also showed the former president’s overall popularity unchanged at 80%. It’s good news for Trump, who is rumored to be preparing for a third run for the White House.
The latest poll was conducted between August 13 and 16. It found that 23% of Republicans had a “somewhat favorable” view of the former president, with just 17% holding somewhat or very unfavorable views. Only 3% of voters couldn’t decide how they felt about him.
According to the same poll a week before, conducted between August 7 and 9, 34% of Republican voters had a somewhat favorable view of the former president. The percentage of Republicans with a somewhat or very unfavorable view remained unchanged at 17%, as did the percentage of Republicans who couldn’t decide how they felt.
Majority Of Americans Approve Of FBI Raid
While the news suggests that Trump is unlikely to have much competition in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, the same poll appears to suggest that a large section of the American public supports the FBI’s decision to conduct a raid on the Mar-a-Lago estate.
After portions of the search warrant were unsealed this week, the poll showed that 50% of respondents say that they have heard a “lot” about the raid in the media, and 36% claim to have heard “a little.” Only 14% of respondents said that they hadn’t heard anything about it at all.
When asked how they felt about the raid, most respondents said that they approved of the Department of Justice’s actions. 54% said that the FBI was justified to conduct the raid, and only 36% disapproved of the decision.
Former President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the “Rally to Protect Our Elections” hosted by Turning Point Action at Arizona Federal Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona.
The survey also revealed how 52% of Americans believe that the former president was wrong to take White House records back to his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving the White House, and 30% said they approved.
What does this mean? It’s hard to say at this point. The results of one poll don’t reflect the views of the entire country, so until more polling is done – and until we see Trump go up against Biden in 2024 – it’s hard to know exactly how strongly the American people feel about Trump’s decision to take home White House records after leaving office.
If the poll does accurately reflect the opinions of Americans, the next question is how much of an impact the issue will have on how people vote in the next presidential election.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
