In polling from Emerson College completed August 26, more said that Trump’s four criminal cases make them less likely to support the former president in his latest bid for that position than those who said the charges led them to be more attached to his campaign.
Trump now faces four criminal cases across the same number of jurisdictions, with over 90 individual accusations of criminality, but he continues to allege that these charges and the underlying investigations represent merely political targeting. His campaign even started selling merchandise imprinted with the mugshot Trump recently had taken in the criminal case filed in Georgia, evidencing how intensely that the former president has sought to use the legal vulnerabilities to rally observers to his side.
In the numbers from Emerson, 47 percent said Trump’s various criminal charges make them less likely to back the former president in his latest run for office, while 35.7 percent said the cases spurred them closer. Meanwhile, 17.4 percent said they were unsure or didn’t have an opinion. Though Trump continues to lead in the race for the Republican nomination in 2024, these numbers indicate that his basic viability in the 2024 general election is just not assured. That’s in contrast to his characteristic claims that he’s actually leading — majorly — in the polls, which just isn’t true.
Trump faced this Monday a decision from federal Judge Tanya Chutkan to schedule his federal case alleging criminal election meddling for years ahead of the point his defense team wanted — in 2026. Chutkan instead scheduled the trial for March 2024. Trump claimed in a subsequent post on his alternative social media platform Truth Social that he’d be appealing the judge’s scheduling order, which is not something that procedurally can actually be done, a former federal prosecutor subsequently explained. Trump also suggested criminal charges for “the Committee,” meaning the House panel that investigated the Capitol riot, though — going with the strictest reading of his remarks — criminal charges against a defunct House panel are not a thing.
