He now seems intent on testing the premise of unwavering loyalty behind that statement.
The federal charges against the former president seem to have cost him few, if any, votes in the 2024 election, even as the number of Republicans who think he has committed serious federal crimes has ticked up.
He continues to hold strong in a hypothetical general election matchup, despite the fact that 17 percent of voters who prefer him over President Biden think either that he has committed serious federal crimes or that he threatened democracy with his actions after the 2020 election, according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll.
“I think he’s committed crimes,” said Joseph Derito, 81, of Elmira, N.Y. “I think he’s done terrible things. But he’s also done a lot of good.”
....
The share of Republicans who say they are not sure whether he committed crimes has also grown, to 13 percent from 10 percent in September. In total, a quarter of Republicans either believe Mr. Trump acted criminally or say they are not sure.
So far, however, having reservations about Mr. Trump’s alleged wrongdoing does not appear to be leading Republican voters to reconsider their support for him. If anything, in public opinion polls conducted when he was indicted in March in Manhattan in relation to hush money payments to a porn star, and then when he was indicted again in June by federal prosecutors in connection with retention of reams of classified national defense material, Mr. Trump was buoyed by Republican voters.
In private conversations, Mr. Trump’s advisers have been blunt — they see the general election as vital to win in order to end the federal prosecutions against him.
The Times/Siena poll has also found that Mr. Trump is leading the field among the likely Republican primary electorate with 54 percent of the vote. The numbers illustrate the challenge for Mr. Trump’s various opponents with less than six months until the Iowa caucuses, and with the prospect that Mr. Trump may be indicted two more times before then in connection with his efforts to thwart the transfer of power after he lost the 2020 election.