Support for former President Donald Trump fell rapidly after he was charged with 34 felony counts of business falsification in Manhattan last week, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll.
Despite Trump's repeated claims that the indictment could actually help him by boosting his support in the election, the poll found that a majority of Americans — 53% — believe he did something illegal. The poll also showed that 11% say he acted wrongly but not intentionally, while 20% believe Trump was not culpable at all.
The former president last week pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg related to the hush-money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the final stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign.
A CNN poll released last week showed that 62% of independent voters approved of the indictment, indicating a shift in support that could prove damaging for Trump as the 2024 presidential election looms.
The ABC News poll found that 50% believe he should be charged with a crime compared to just 33% who think he should not. Nearly half of respondents said that Trump should suspend his campaign in the wake of the indictment, up from 43% before the indictment.
The poll also showed Trump's favorability rating falling to just 25%, down 10 points since the presidential election. President Joe Biden, who has struggled to garner public support since taking office in 2020, currently has a favorability rating of 34%.
MSNBC host Willie Geist warned on Tuesday that the poll shows Trump approaching "fringe political candidate" territory.
"25 percent is a terrible number if you're trying to win a general election again," Geist said.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski added that Republican candidates "want him to stay away" from their races in 2024 after his hand-picked candidates struggled last cycle.
"If his legal issues don't take him off the ballot, maybe his poll numbers will," she said, adding that the survey showed him "losing support rapidly, dropping like a rock."
"His favorability ratings have never been great, nor the job approval ratings, but if you look at the favorability ratings, when we sit here talking about all the things he is doing and wondering why it doesn't seem to catch up to him, he now has a favorability rating that's collapsed down to 25 percent," said co-host Joe Scarborough. "Actually lost more percentage points post-indictment."
"It is all bad news for him," he added, "especially the fact that only one in four Americans now have a favorable impression of him."
