Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
Former President Donald Trump has improved his standing in Republican circles following the circulation of his prediction that he will soon be arrested.
Although Tuesday came and went without Trump being charged with a crime his presidential prospects nonetheless benefited from the anger that the thought of Trump’s arrest inspired on the right. Trump had predicted over the weekend that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg would arrest him yesterday, although it is possible from the wording that the former president meant March 28.
According to a recent poll by Morning Consult, a global decision intelligence tracking company, 54% of likely Republican voters favor Trump, more than double Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who finished in second place.
In Florida, Trump is polling more favorably with likely voters today than he was in 2020 when he won the state. He is outpacing President Joe Biden by a margin of 47%-43% in an Accountable Florida poll. In 2020, he outperformed Biden 46%-45%, then won the state with 51% of the vote.
Much like during the Jan. 6 select committee hearings and the raid on Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s popularity seems to elevate any time his supporters sense that liberals are launching or might be poised to launch an attack against the former president.
This reality has led even those on the left to question Bragg’s tactic, saying that it will only rally his base, specifically since analysts have noted that the case is based on shaky legal footing.
Comedian Chris Rock, though not a Washington insider, might have summed the situation best during remarks he made at a D.C. event attended by members of the Biden administration as well as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Are you guys really going to arrest Trump?” Rock asked. “Do you know this is only going to make him more popular? It’s like arresting Tupac. He’s just gonna sell more records. Are you stupid?”
Republicans have also come out in defense of the former president, even those who are not staunch Trump supporters.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is rumored to launch a campaign to challenge Trump in 2024, called the investigation “another politically charged prosecution.”
“People have a right to express the frustration that they feel to see a liberal Manhattan DA poised to indict a former president,” Pence added.
On a national level, Trump remains generally under the 50-percent popularity mark, but has ticked up from a little over 39% in February to hovering around 42% today, according to calculations by FiveThirtyEight.
The key question for Trump, and the GOP at large, remains whether he will be able to gain enough support from the wider voting population to win a national election.