Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg over the weekend, as former President Trump continued to soar past him in the polls.
In his second speech to a New York City-area audience in six weeks, DeSantis said Bragg was ‘all about politics’ and labeled him a ‘menace to society.’
DeSantis, speaking in Nassau County hours after a speech at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, lambasted the progressive DA for working to keep criminals out of jail and downgrading felonies to misdemeanors.
However, despite DeSantis’ visits to the north, a new Yahoo News survey shows that former President Donald Trump is now polling 26 points ahead of DeSantis, more than tripling his previous lead over the Florida leader since his indictment last week.
A post-indictment poll showed Trump surging ahead of DeSantis
Over the weekend, Ron DeSantis lambasted the progressive DA for working to keep criminals out of jail and downgrading felonies to misdemeanors
However, despite DeSantis’ visits to the north, a new Yahoo News survey shows that former President Donald Trump is now polling 26 points ahead of DeSantis
During his most recent speech, DeSantis did not mention Trump by name, but instead called out Bragg for bringing ‘a flimsy indictment against a former president of the United States.’
‘All these legal gymnastics to act like this is a felony – when almost every other time, he’s trying to take the felonies and downgrade them,’ he continued.
‘This guy is doing politics! He has an agenda – that is not the rule of law,’ said the governor, earning a standing ovation from his audience.
The governor did plenty of agenda boosting himself, as he spoke of his record in Florida during the past four years.
‘We don’t have leaks, we don’t have palace intrigues,’ he said, making possible reference to the often messy affairs of the Trump administration.
‘We just execute the agenda.’
Instead of focusing on Trump, a subject he will need to find a way of navigating should he ever officially announce his presidential candidacy, he spent most of his time hammering President Joe Biden.
He labeled Biden ‘weak’ and ‘floundering,’ and said he’s been ‘controlled by the leftist elements of the Democratic Party.’
Dozens of Trump supporters lined the street outside of DeSantis’ speaking engagement, many of them waving ‘Trump 2024’ signs and a few showing off ‘DeSantis 2028’ posters.
‘I think that [the indictment] is totally fake. They just want to slow [Trump] down,’ said 60-year-old Rose Mui, adding ‘I don’t really care about DeSantis.’
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has been accused of pursuing a political ‘witch hunt’ against Trump
Regardless of Trump’s significant lead over DeSantis, according to the Yahoo survey, the same poll shows that voters are largely not in favor of Trump assuming a second term if his indictment leads to a conviction.
When asked: ‘If Donald Trump is convicted of a crime in this case, do you think he should be allowed to serve as president again in the future?’ 52 percent said he should not.
Thirty-one percent of respondents said he should still serve another term. That divide among Republicans was 56 percent believed he should be president again, 24 percent believed he should not, and 20 percent were unsure.
Allies of Donald Trump are remaining bullish that his indictment has increased his popularity as their research shows he is winning the Republican leadership race.
A poll by Trump’s campaign team found that 51 percent of Republicans see him as their preferred 2024 candidate – putting him ahead of his biggest threat Ron DeSantis who scored 21 percent.
The claim comes after Trump’s team yesterday claimed more than $4 million was donated to his presidential campaign in the 24 hours after he was indicted.
The former President is facing 34 charges connected to an alleged $130,000 ‘hush money’ payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Trump’s team conducted a full-field ballot test of 14 potential Republican candidates over Friday and Saturday – two days after his indictment.
While Trump and DeSantis came out on top of the latest poll, former Vice President Mike Pence was in third place with six percent of the vote.
Nikki Haley was fourth with four percent as all other candidates received two percent or less each.
A general election ballot test also put Trump ahead of Biden 47-43 – a figure that has changed little since his team’s previous survey in March.
Meanwhile 47 percent of those polled said he would not get a fair trial in Manhattan.
Trump has repeatedly voiced concerns about being tried in the Democratic state.
Trump was sensationally indicted Thursday following a years-long investigation into the money paid to Daniels
Trump was sensationally indicted Thursday following a years-long investigation into the money paid to Daniels.
He is set to be arrested on Tuesday and faces up to four years in jail if convicted.
It marked a victory for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg who reheated the probe and doggedly pursued the case.
But Trump and his family members have repeatedly accused Bragg of a politically-charged ‘witch hunt’ which will only make voters more sympathetic to the former President.
