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It happened first<\/a> after the August 2022 Mar-a-Lago FBI raid, and second<\/a> after his 34-count hush-money indictment in New York in April. And now we know that it happened yet again after his 37-count federal indictment in early June on criminal charges of mishandling classified documents: Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s poll numbers got a bump.<\/p>\n At least that\u2019s according to a new NBC poll<\/a> of 1,000 registered voters released Sunday. 51% of the poll\u2019s respondents said they\u2019d vote for Trump in a Republican primary ballot\u2014a five point increase from April. Trump had bragged as much at a Georgia GOP convention speech directly following the indictment: \u201cI mean, the only good thing about it is, it\u2019s driven my poll numbers way up,\u201d he said<\/a>. Though that assessment was premature, it was arguably spot on.<\/p>\n Trump now leads Florida Governor Ron DeSantis<\/strong>, currently his chief Republican rival, by 29 points, a near doubling of his lead in NBC\u2019s April poll. DeSantis\u2019s worsening numbers are one of the poll\u2019s other major findings: 46% of all voters rated the Florida governor either \u201csomewhat\u201d (9%) or \u201cvery\u201d (37%) negative, an increase of twenty points over the last year. In a head-to-head primary matchup, Trump would beat DeSantis by 24 points, according to the poll.<\/p>\n No other Republican primary candidate broke into double digits. Former vice president Mike Pence<\/strong> came in third with 7%, and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie<\/strong>, who has made Trump-bashing the centerpiece of his campaign, rounded out the top four with just 5%.<\/p>\n Asked specifically whether Trump\u2019s federal indictment gave them any concerns, a whopping 77% of Republican primary voters said it gave them either minor concerns (14%) or no concerns at all (63%). Compare that with more than half of all registered voters who said the indictment gave them concerns.<\/p>\n The poll did reveal a near 50-50 split among Republicans on the question of whether Trump should remain the party\u2019s standard-bearer. 21% of primary voters, a majority of whom selected DeSantis as their first choice, agreed that Trump \u201cwas a good president, but it is time to consider other leaders.\u201d An additional 29% agreed that the GOP needs a \u201cnew leader with better personal behavior and a different approach.\u201d That latter group\u2019s support was spread across DeSantis, Pence, Christie, and other worse-polling candidates. Still, Republican pollster Bill McInturff<\/strong>, who helped conduct the survey, told<\/a> NBC News that Trump posting 49% in response to this question \u201cis a strong starting number\u201d in a crowded primary field.<\/p>\n The poll was also the first in the 2024 presidential cycle to directly pit President Joe Biden<\/strong> against Republican rivals. In a hypothetical Trump-Biden rematch, the current president won by four points, which was within the poll\u2019s margin of error. A hypothetical Biden-DeSantis contest showed the two in a dead heat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n