Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson said Sunday that Donald Trump saw a boost in the 2024 presidential polls after being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury because the former president “played the victim.”
During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd asked Hutchinson why Republican voters think Trump is the best candidate right now.
Hutchinson pointed to the time immediately after the 2022 midterm elections, when Trump’s support dropped in the polls after a predicted red wave failed to materialize. Trump and his hand-picked candidates were largely blamed for the losses. Hutchinson called these polls the “true numbers.”
WATCH: Fmr. Gov. @AsaHutchinson (R-Ark.) says Trump’s popularity rose because he “played the victim” and people believe he was “picked on” after being indicted by a Manhattan DA.
“I joke in some ways that [Trump’s] campaign manager is Alvin Bragg of New York City.” pic.twitter.com/zHLb3vPYIi
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 7, 2023
“Since then his numbers have gone up because he’s played the victim,” Hutchinson said. “People believe he’s been picked on because of some prosecutions. I joke in some ways that his campaign manager is [Manhattan district attorney] Alvin Bragg in New York City.”
“That indictment caused those numbers to go up because they don’t believe they’re fair,” Hutchinson said. “This will settle out over time and so let’s judge it understanding that we’re early in the campaign we’ve got a lot of room to grow.”
In April, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office into a hush-money payment made to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
YouGov polling conducted in the hours after Trump’s arrest found 58 percent of Republicans believe the charges will strengthen his 2024 campaign, while just 17 percent said it would weaken it. Forty percent of Democrats said the charges would weaken Trump’s presidential bid, while just 18 percent said they would strengthen it.
A Yahoo News/YouGov poll of Republican voters shortly after Trump’s indictment found Trump leading Florida governor Ron DeSantis 57 percent to 31 percent. Trump notched an increase of ten percentage points in under two weeks.
Hutchinson, meanwhile, faced questions last week about why, exactly, he is running for president, with Fox News host Lawrence Jones pointing out that Hutchinson is averaging just 1 percent in the polls. Jones said he has not “found one person that says they want Asa Hutchinson to be the president of the United States.”
Lawrence Jones grills @AsaHutchinson on policy positions: 'Respectfully, sir, that is spin'
READ: https://t.co/31PP5fJxVQ pic.twitter.com/iVg4p5IHjt
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 2, 2023
“Well . . . there are people out there that would like to see me run for president. But there is certainly a gap between myself and Donald Trump who is right now leading the ticket on the Republican side,” Hutchinson replied. “But that’s why you have campaigns. That’s why you have choices. That’s why I am able to talk about the economy, my experience in law enforcement. There’s no one that has more experience in law enforcement than me in terms of dealing with our border security issues and dealing with crime.”