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Some 48% of self-described Republicans say they want Trump to be
their party's presidential nominee, up from 44% in a March 14-20
poll.
Some 19% back his closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, down
from 30% last month. Other likely rivals polled in the single
digits.
The online poll was conducted between March 31 and April 3, after
news broke that Trump would face criminal charges related to hush
money paid to a porn star before the 2016 election.
Trump is the first U.S. president to face criminal indictment. He is
expected to plead not guilty at a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday.
DeSantis in recent weeks has been buffeted by criticism over a March
13 statement in which he said that it was not a vital U.S. national
interest to become "further entangled in a territorial dispute
between Ukraine and Russia."
Trump has stepped up his attacks on DeSantis, who has not formally
announced his candidacy but is expected to run.
Some 71% of Americans, including 58% of Republicans, say it is
believable that Trump paid porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet
about an affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump has
proclaimed his innocence and denied the affair, though he has
acknowledged paying Daniels.
At the same time, 51% of poll respondents, including 80% of
Republicans, said they believed the charges are politically
motivated.
Those figures are largely unchanged from last month.
The survey of 706 U.S. adults has a credibility interval, a measure
of precision, of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points for all
respondents and plus or minus 4.5 percentage points for Republicans.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; editing by Andy Sullivan and Jonathan
Oatis)
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