INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — Former President Donald Trump told Breitbart News exclusively on Friday night that he is “honored” to be the frontrunner for the White House in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump, just off his arraignment post-indictment in New York City, has seen a massive surge of support both in the GOP primary and in general election numbers in recent weeks.
“Well, I’m honored,” Trump said when asked why he thinks he is seeing the surge to frontrunner status. “Sadly, I have to say part of it is because the country is doing so poorly. I wish it were for other reasons. They saw how we did, and now they see the country doing so poorly and so pathetically. We’re not respected by anybody. You have wars all over. Ukraine and Russia never would have happened if I were president — zero chance. It looks like China is going to happen with Taiwan. That never would have happened. And inflation never would have happened. It was caused by energy prices more than anything else. So many of these things were just self-imposed foolish mistakes — stupid mistakes beyond anything anyone has ever seen before. So, yeah, I’m leading a lot in the polls — by 35 or 40 points in almost every poll. Texas just came in and we’re almost 50 points in Texas. Now, Massachusetts is almost 50 points.”
It seems like the indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and the intense national focus on his arraignment, has only fueled Trump’s surge.
In general election numbers, two post-indictment YouGov surveys nationally put Trump ahead of Democrat President Joe Biden, and a Rasmussen Reports survey showed Trump expanding his lead to seven percent over the incumbent president.
Trump’s surge in the GOP primary has been even more profound. Every state polled since the indictment has shown Trump leading everyone else, and in most places, he has double-digit leads and majority support in both head-to-head matchups and in crowded fields.
In Iowa, for instance, Trump leads Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 30 percent in the latest survey conducted by Victory Insights from April 10 to April 13. The poll of 400 likely 2024 Iowa caucus participants found Trump at 54 percent and DeSantis languishing down at 24 percent. Former United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was at 14 percent, and everyone else was in single digits.
Iowa 2024: Trump holds 30-point lead for Republican Nomination
Trump — 54%
DeSantis — 24%
Haley — 14%
Hutchinson — 4%
Ramaswamy — 3%
Johnson — 1%2-Way:
Trump — 59%
DeSantis — 41%@VictoryPolling | April 10-13 | 400 LVhttps://t.co/yG7udNYFoj pic.twitter.com/lMGI5GE5Do— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) April 14, 2023
In New Hampshire, in the latest survey from Saint Anselm College, Trump leads DeSantis by 13 percent. That poll, taken March 28 to March 30, has Trump at 42 percent, DeSantis at 29 percent, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu at 14 percent, and everyone else in single digits.
2024 New Hampshire GOP Primary
• Trump — 42%
• DeSantis — 29%
• Sununu — 14%
• Haley — 4%
• Ramaswamy — 3%
• Cheney — 2%
• Pence — 1%
• T. Scott — 1%
• Christie — 1%⦿ St Anselm College (A/B) | RVs
⦿ March 28-30 | MOE: ±2.7%https://t.co/YTBihXBAQm pic.twitter.com/gQWAdLesMX— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) April 3, 2023
In Georgia, Trump leads DeSantis by 21 percent according to the latest University of Georgia survey of 983 likely voters conducted from April 2 to April 12. That poll has Trump in majority territory in Georgia at 51 percent, while DeSantis is down at 30 percent.
Georgia 2024: Trump holds 21-point lead for Republican Nomination
Trump — 51%
DeSantis — 30%
Haley — 4%
Pence — 2%
Cheney — 2%
T. Scott — 1%
Pompeo — 1%2-Way:
Trump — 51%
DeSantis — 41%UGA | April 2-12 | 983 LVhttps://t.co/35v2ZdSxAe pic.twitter.com/8JzKLXSjYQ
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) April 14, 2023
Reacting to the Georgia poll, Trump told Breitbart News that he is not surprised.
“I’ve always said that Georgia is a red state,” Trump said. “Georgia is not a purple state or a blue state. Georgia is a red state. It’s red, red, red.”
Trump leads by even more in Kentucky, where Trump — at 62 percent — towers over DeSantis’s 23 percent by a whopping 39 points. That survey, conducted by Emerson College from April 10 to April 11, surveyed 900 likely voters in Kentucky.
Kentucky 2024: Trump Holds 39-Point Lead for Republican Nomination
• Trump — 62%
• DeSantis — 23%
• Pence — 4%
• Haley — 4%
• Hutchinson — 1%
• T. Scott — 1%
• Noem — 1%Emerson (A-) | 04/10-11 | 900 LV https://t.co/k3LRKqBbp5 pic.twitter.com/NhJohPPsRk
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) April 14, 2023
Trump has shown similar dominant leads in Massachusetts, Texas, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, and even Florida — the state that just reelected DeSantis governor and where Trump also resides permanently at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
2024 Post-Indictment GOP Primary Polling
MA:
Trump — 59% (+41)
DeSantis — 18%
.
TX:
Trump — 52% (+32)
DeSantis — 20%
.
SC:
Trump — 41% (+21)
DeSantis — 20%
.
UT:
Trump — 41% (+18)
DeSantis — 23%
.
IA:
Trump — 41% (+15)
DeSantis — 26%
.
FL:
Trump — 43% (+8)
DeSantis — 35% pic.twitter.com/yxDYe3mnd4— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) April 12, 2023
🚨 PENNSYLVANIA POLL: @FandMPoll
PRES:
(D) Biden: 36%
(R) Trump: 35%SEN:
(D) Casey: 42%
(R) McCormick: 35%
.
(D) Casey: 47%
(R) Mastriano: 31%GOP PRES:
• Trump — 40%
• DeSantis — 34%
• Pence — 6%
• Haley — 4%03/27-04/07 | RVs | D44/R40/I16 pic.twitter.com/AWKAP2jWQi
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) April 13, 2023
National surveys of the Republican primary show a similar trend whereby Trump has emerged as perhaps the strongest GOP frontrunner in modern memory with well into double-digit leads over anyone else.
Trump is basking in his status as the clear GOP frontrunner for the White House and is racking up key endorsements to lock in unified GOP support for his campaign. Hours before this interview which came immediately after his speech to the annual National Rifle Association (NRA) gathering, Trump won the endorsement of freshman Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC).
Exclusive — North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd Endorses Donald Trump in 2024 https://t.co/XvnaSnqay7
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) April 13, 2023
From here, Trump flew to Nashville, Tennessee, where he delivered the keynote address at a Republican National Committee (RNC) gathering — and won the endorsement of Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN).
It is my honor to give my whole-hearted endorsement to Donald J. Trump to be the next President of the United States. I was honored to previously serve in his Administration.
— Bill Hagerty (@BillHagertyTN) April 16, 2023
“It’s moving quickly,” Trump told Breitbart News of the growing number of endorsements and increased party support for his 2024 campaign.
He was also thrilled he won the endorsement of Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a move that shocked many political observers given Donalds’s close relationship with DeSantis. “A great endorsement — who was close to DeSanctus,” Trump told Breitbart News, using one of the several pejorative nicknames he developed for the possible intra-party White House rival next year. Donalds endorsing Trump instead of DeSantis was especially big because Donalds and DeSantis have been very close — and their wives are similarly close. DeSantis had even appointed Donalds’ wife Erika to a state board. Donalds even introduced DeSantis at his November 2022 election night victory party, making the endorsement of Trump even more stinging.
Trump told Breitbart News that the recent stream of endorsements — this interview came right after the Budd endorsement and just before the Hagerty endorsement — is a sign the party is unifying quickly behind his 2024 campaign as other actual or possible contenders struggle to find their footing.
“I think so. I think the party is very unified,” Trump said. “I also think they’re looking at the polls now and they’re saying, ‘wow, that’s impressive.’ But we’re leading by so much and they’re seeing that. I think people look back to those four years we had — we had an incredible four years then we got hit by the COVID situation, the gift from China, which was a terrible, terrible thing to have to go through that. But we did a great job with it, rebuilt the economy, gave over a stock market that was higher than it was just pre-COVID — pretty amazing. People look back to the times of especially that first two and a half years prior to the COVID coming — the China virus as I call it because that’s what it was. There’s never been anything like it in the history of our country. We can do that again, and I think we can actually do it even better again.”
More from Trump’s latest exclusive interview with Breitbart News is forthcoming.
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