Indictment Didn’t Boost Trump, but It Froze Race He’s Already Winning

There was a lot of debate when Donald Trump was indicted in the classified-documents case as to whether the prosecution would boost him as Republican voters rallied in solidarity, or hurt him by adding to questions about his electability. But as we approach three weeks since the indictment, the numbers suggest that the news hasn’t boosted him per se but that it has frozen the race in place — which is just as good for a campaign that is already way ahead of the competition.

On June 9, the day the indictment came out, Trump was polling at 54 percent in the RealClearPolitics national average, giving him a 30.3-point lead over Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who was polling at 23.7 percent. Now, Trump is at 52.2 percent and DeSantis is at 21.5 percent, which works out to a nearly identical 30.6-point lead.

There was a lot of debate when Donald Trump was indicted in the classified-documents case as to whether the prosecution would boost him as Republican voters rallied in solidarity, or hurt him by adding to questions about his electability. But as we approach three weeks since the indictment, the numbers suggest that the news hasn’t boosted him per se but that it has frozen the race in place — which is just as good for a campaign that is already way ahead of the competition.

On June 9, the day the indictment came out, Trump was polling at 54 percent in the RealClearPolitics national average, giving him a 30.3-point lead over Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who was polling at 23.7 percent. Now, Trump is at 52.2 percent and DeSantis is at 21.5 percent, which works out to a nearly identical 30.6-point lead.