- A new poll shows that the Mar-a-Lago raid has given Trump a 10-point boost over DeSantis with GOP primary voters.
- It widens Trump's lead over his nearest rival from 30 to 40 points.
- The poll was conducted after federal investigators searched Mar-a-Lago but before the search warrant was unsealed.
The Mar-a-Lago raid gave former President Donald Trump a 10-point boost over possible 2024 rival Gov. Ron DeSantis among Republican primary voters, further widening his already significant lead, according to a new poll.
The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted on August 10 — after federal agents searched the Florida property on Monday, but before Friday's unsealing of the search warrant and property receipt revealed that the FBI seized 11 sets of classified documents.
The poll found that 57% of registered voters would back Trump if he chose to run and if the Republican presidential primary were held that day. That's a four-point increase on the 53% who said they would vote for the former president last month, per the POLITICO/Morning Consul's July 15-17 National Tracking Poll.
Meanwhile, DeSantis, who could be Trump's fiercest competition should they both choose to run, dropped from 23% to 17%. The events of this week, albeit without the revelations of the unsealed search warrant, gave Trump a 10-point boost over DeSantis.
Now Trump, who has teased a run but not yet formally announced that he intends to, has a 40-point lead on his competition. DeSantis, who defended Trump after the FBI raid, has also not formally announced his intentions to run.
According to the poll, which surveyed 2,004 registered voters, no other candidate had double-digit support. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 2 points.
On Saturday, Insider's Darren Samuelsohn and Charles R. Davis reported that Republican strategists believed the Mar-a-Lago raid would help Trump with GOP primary voters.
Trump is being investigated for potential crimes related to his handling of documents that could threaten US national security, and allies say he could exploit the investigation to play into the narrative that he's the target of a "deep state" cabal.
One GOP operative told Insider that Trump will be able to reprise his role as a "martyr" and that the events of this week make it "pretty much unbeatable in a primary."