The criminal prosecution of former US President Donald Trump has divided Americans and increased the tycoon’s chances of securing the Republican nomination to be the party’s 2024 presidential candidate, according to an Ipsos poll on behalf of Reuters news agency.

The poll took place the day before Wednesday and yesterday Thursday, after the New York prosecutor’s office filed 34 charges against Mr. Trump for financial crimes.

According to her findings, 49% of Americans think it was right to bring criminal charges against Mr. Trumpthe first against a former US president in history.

But if you look deeper, the finding highlights how divisive Americans are about anything related to Donald Trump.

84% of those who said they belonged to the Democrats believed that the prosecution was correct, while only 16% of those who said they belonged to the Republicans agreed.

While 40 percent of Republicans said the impeachment made them more likely to vote for Mr. Trump in 2024, just 12 percent said they were less likely to vote for him now. 38% said the prosecution would have no impact.

The former president is leading the race for his party’s nomination: 58% of Republicans say he is their preferred candidate, up from 48% in an earlier Ipsos poll for Reuters on Monday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, who has not officially run yet, is in second place with 21 percent.

Although Democrats and Republicans disagree sharply on whether to prosecute the case, the survey found that a large majority of Americans (73%, including 55% of Republicans) believe the former president did arrange for money to be given. to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougall to ensure their silence regarding his alleged extramarital affairs with them.

However, at the same time, 76% of Republicans said they see the prosecution as an attempt to prevent Trump from running for the presidency in the process. The same opinion is shared by 34% of the Democrats.

51% of the sample — but only 18% of Republicans — believe that the criminal prosecution against Mr. Trump means that he should be permanently stripped of the right to run for president.

The Ipsos poll for Reuters of a representative sample of 1,004 adults has a margin of error of ±3.8% for the entire sample and ±6.3% for the 368 respondents who said they were Republicans.