The FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence, appears to have not impacted his future election chances with voters, according to a new poll.
If the 2024 election were held today, 45% of survey respondents said they would vote for Trump; 42% would choose President Joe Biden, and 13% said they are unsure, according to the September Harvard-CAPS Harris Poll, conducted by the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard (CAPS) and the Harris Poll, released Sept. 13.
Additionally, when asked if the Republican presidential primary were held today, 33% said they would vote for Trump. Meanwhile, 10% said they’d pick Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, widely seen as a rising star within the party. Rounding out some other notable names, 9% of respondents would choose former Vice President Mike Pence; 3% chose former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley; and Sens. Ted Cruz, Tim Scott and Marco Rubio each garnered 2% of support, according to the poll.
The survey, conducted online between Sept. 7 and 8, polled 1,854 registered voters across the nation, and the results reflect a representative sample, according to the survey’s methodology.
The results from the poll also show that voters are largely split down the middle on questions related to what they believe were the raid’s motivations.
A slim majority, 51%, of voters believe the FBI raid was a politically motivated use of police force, while 49% believe it was “as required by Justice Department protocols,” according to the survey. The FBI’s search warrant said they were searching the former’s president’s Florida residence to investigate whether he had mishandled classified documents in violation of three criminal statutes.
Respondents were similarly split when asked if they thought the Justice Department was “really seeking just classified documents and presidential records, or was it using the warrant to carry out a fishing expedition.” Forty-eight percent believe the operation was above board, while 52% believe the FBI was trying to find other materials to use against Trump.
A more substantial majority, 60% of respondents, said they think the Justice Department should have resolved matters in court as opposed to seizing documents using a warrant. Similarly, 58% of polled voters believe the appointment of a special master, ordered by a federal judge on September 5, to review items taken from Mar-a-Lago is a reasonable decision, according to the survey.
Additionally, 53% of respondents believe Biden’s White House staff was involved in the FBI search and broader Justice Department investigation into Trump, while 47% believe the matter is entirely independent of the White House. Biden has said that he did not have any advance notice of the raid.
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