Trump’s lead over DeSantis shrinks 10 points since late March: poll

Former President Donald Trump’s post-impeachment resurgence appears to be fading quickly in the polls, according to a new poll.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released Tuesday showed Trump’s lead over Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has fallen 10 points over the past two weeks.

The poll of 1,530 US adults, conducted April 14-17, found that 52% favor Trump, compared to 36% who said they supported DeSantis in a one-on-one match.

When the same poll polled voters 24 hours after the former president was hit with 34 felonies of falsifying business records related to an alleged “hush money” payment scheme, Trump recorded his biggest lead over DeSantis yet — 57% to 31%.

The poll released Tuesday also found Trump slipped below 50% of support when respondents were given a full field of Republican presidential options for 2024, and fell to 49% of support, down 3 percentage points from Yahoo News’ last poll /YouGov.

Less than half of GOP voters, 49%, said they would prefer Trump to “anyone else” as the party’s 2024 nominee, marking the first time since February that the former president has failed to get 50% on the issue.

February was also the last time Yahoo News/YouGov found DeSantis ahead of Trump in a poll, 45% to 41%.

Trump’s decline in the polls as his indictment of the Manhattan grand jury is further removed in the rearview mirror on March 30 signals public opinion is turning from March 45.

The poll found that the number of Americans who approve of Trump being “charged with falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star” has risen 5 points in the past two weeks, from 42% to 42% 47% on Tuesday.

Among Republicans, 19% said they approve of the impeachment, up from 12% two weeks ago.

Disapproval of his impeachment fell slightly among all voters from 39% to 37%.

A higher percentage of people also said they believe Trump did what he was accused of in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment filings, 48% compared to 45% immediately after the indictment fell.

A majority of registered voters, 51%, also said they now believe Trump committed a crime.