A new NBC News poll showed that the FBI’s execution of a search warrant at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, improved his standing in a potential 2024 Republican presidential primary.
The survey asked Republicans respondents if they considered themselves more of a supporter of the former president or the Republican Party, to which 41 per cent said they identified more as supporters of the former president, compared to 50 per cent who identify more as supporters of the GOP.
By comparison, 34 per cent of Republican respondents said they identified more as supporters of the former president and 58 identified more as supporters of the Republican Party, marking a seven-point spike for the former president.
Many Republican elected officials have rallied around Mr Trump since the search of his home earlier this month, and it has led some Republicans to call for defunding the FBI for executing the warrant.
It also comes as the federal magistrate judge who approved the search warrant said that there was a “significant likelihood” of witness intimidation if the affidavit used to justify the arrest warrant were to be unsealed. Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed that he personally authorised the search warrant.
But the same poll also showed that 57 per cent of Americans thought that investigations into potential wrongdoing by the former president should continue. Conversely, only 40 per cent of people surveyed said that the investigations should not continue because they were politically motivated and would divide the country.
This coincides with a YouGov poll from last week which showed that 54 per cent of Americans approved of the search at Mar-a-Lago.
The NBC News poll was conducted by Democratic polling firm Hart Research and Republican outlet Public Opinion Strategies and surveyed 1,000 registered voters by phone, including 750 by cell phone.
