Breaking right now. A new cnn snapshot of the president ial contest. We have important insights on the Hardening Support for the front runner, the indictments and the giant gap between how they helped trump now or might hurt him in november of 2024. Plus no stroke, no Seizure Disorder, no parkinsons. Senator Mitch Mcconnell gives more detail explaining what did not happen when he froze on camera, but it is unclear if this new information will quiet questions about how long he should stay in his job. And new reporting on the Special Counsel. Sources tell cnn that jack smith is still asking questions about a trump lawyer. Could we see another indictment . Im dana bash. Lets go behind the headlines and inside politics. Up first, a brand new read of what americans are thinking at this early point in the president ial race. New cnn poll numbers are out right now. Lets get started with david chalian, what are we seeing . Were seeing what is basically a oneman race for the republican president ial nomination. Our brand new numbers among republicans, you have donald trump at 52 . Majority support. Ron desantis is next in line here way back at 18 . Everyone else is in single digits. This is a oneman race. Look at where we have it in june. You see the movement here. Donald trump is getting stronger as a front runner. Hes up 5 compared to where he was in june. And look at ron desantis. He is slipping. Hes down 8 from where he was in june. You see little margin for movement except for vivek ramaswamy, who is also you want 5 points since june. So right now youre seeing a Donald Trumpdominated race and donald trump is getting stronger. How locked in is Donald Trumps support . Look at this overall. We asked are you with the person youre going to support or might you change your mind. This is among republican and republicanleaning voters. Twothirds of republicans say they are going to definitely support their first choice person. A third say they might change their mind. 43 of republican and rep republicanleaning voters are definite trump supporters. So consider that 43 like a trump floor of support. 20 say they will definitely support candidates not named donald trump. That 35 who say they can change their mind, look here. Donald trump supporters, and we have seen him throughout his time on the stage, they are the stickiest supporters. 83 of supporters are definitely going to support him. 54 of ron desantis supporters say that. 37 of support etc. Of other folks say they are locked in. And then youre supporting them now. Combine all that up among republican and republicanleaning independents. Donald trump at 81 either support them now or would consider supporting him. Desantis at 78 . Haley, scott, vivek ramaswamy, the next tier here. But look down here. Either half or less of these republican independents would consider supporting these candidates or with them. Look at that crist number. A third of republicans would support him now. Twothirds wont even consider him. These numbers are so interesting. The question that everybody asks that we ask all the time is why . Why is donald trump support so sticky and why is it so vast when it relates to everybody else in the field . One of the things were seeing, and we tested a bunch of issues, hes dominant on every one. Republicans think he would do best kcompared to competitors across a range of issues. That matters because we ask, whats more important . Position on the issueses or character personal traits. 77 , three quarters of republican and republicanleaners say its the position on the issues they are looking for to match up against. Only 14 say character or personal traits are their major reason for support. So interesting. It almost irrelevant because the numbers are so high. Standby 37 were going to talk more about this. But we also want to look at what is happening on the ground. This and david has said this, this is a National Snapshot. We know when it comes to nomination process, thats not how these candidates are actually nominate d. It goes state by state. Lets go to one of the most important state, New Hampshire. Thats where jeff zeleny is. What are you seeing on the ground in the first in the Nation Primary State . Reporter theres no question the form president has a commanding lead. Hes running circles around his opponents. At the same time, there are open minds from Republican Voters and certainly all important independent voters here in New Hampshire, who can vote in the republican primary early next year. Many voters we have been speaking with here who are watching the Candidates Campaign yesterday on labor day and here today, former Vice President mike pence will be holding an event right here in just a short time, they have open minds. They are looking for a alternatives. So voters are essentially divided into two camps. Youre either with trump or looking for someone else. But New Hampshire governor chris sununu had this to say yesterday when we asked him about the state of the race. You dont believe this primarily is effectively over . God no. Not even close. Was it over when clinton was leading barack obama by 20 points in 2008 . No one could beat the clinton machine. This is politics. Things move at a moments notice. Political momentum is a real thing. A place like New Hampshire and iowa, what you do on the ground matters. It translates. So the historical parallel there is may end with the fact that hillary clinton, yes, was up some 20 points over bah obama. She was not a former president is and did not have the base of support that donald trump currently has. That said, many open minds here. And this race is evolve ing. We will watch it as it evolves over these next several months. National polls not always a good predictor or indicator, but no doubt even his rivals would agree, donald trump is in firm command of this race. Thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. Here with me to share their reporting is niamalika henderson, jeff mason of reuters, Jackie Cust Sign Itch and david chalian. Thank you so much. Theres so many things that are coming into my mind. Never mind that chris sununu was almost giving an animal house reference, was it over when the germans bombed pearl harbor, but putting that aside, lets look in all seriousness at these numbers. Because what chris sununu and others who dont want donald trump will i say over and over is if they just got around one clear opponent to donald trump, then that would be the way to beat donald trump. Thats not true if you look at these numbers. You see 52 . If you add up the rest, that would not mean an alternative could beat donald trump. Thats what makes a the this point different from 2016. There is a lot of wishing and hoping among republicans like sununu in people who dont want to see donald trump be the nominee. And i think its marked a lot of what we have seen. Some of it was wishing that desantis was a trump slayer. Also wishing that the antitrump sentiment in the Republican Party was much wider and deeper than it actually is. We see now that a majority, at least right now of Republican Voters feel like they want donald trump to be their nominee. Hes effectively running as a nonincumbent incumbent. With that comes a lot of privileges. They saw how he behaved as president. In terms of the economy and the Supreme Court n terms of rhett risk and actions on a number of issues, so the field is what it is now and no one is going to drop out at this point in some sort of joint pact to defeat donald trump. Another interesting thing about this poll, whether or not voters were going to vote for trump, do they think trump is going to be the nominee. And the answer was yes, they do. So hes very close to having this inevitability that Republican Voters, whether or not they like him, think they are going to have to live with him. Thats when that consolidation happens, even with those who dont really like him. What that means for a general, probably not great for former President Trump. They also have no idea. I want to pull up a couple of the numbers that david was talking about before. Start ing with the question wil the Person Answering definitely support the first choice candidates. Thats where donald trump, look at that. 83 of people who say they support donald trump now will support him had no matter what. And all the others, you see desantis is at 54. All the others are at 37 . What does that tell you . It tells me that david is right and jeff zeleny is right in saying its largely a oneman race. The other thing that i was thinking as we were talking is we learned in 2016, we learn over the four years that President Trump was in office that the political rules dont apply to him. And i think thats manifested in these figures as well. It doesnt matter that there are indictments or there are court cases or that theres actually a field of republican candidates that have a good chunk of people who can make a good argument as to why they should be president of the united states. Hes established. He has this base. He has this group of supporters what are not going away. And all of the stuff that normal ly would bring down another candidate continues to help him. Just bring up those other numbers on the sheet there that show 35 of the electorate may change their mind. The question is strength of support among those with the first choice candidate. So 65 already say they are locked into their choice, which we call it early part of the race, but its getting late. Twothirds of republicans are telling us they are locked in. Of the third that might change their mind, this is important to underscore about Donald Trumps dominance. Nearly two ththirds of them eir support trump or would consider supporting trump. They may change their mind, but you cant read that number and think they are a nontrump person. He has twothirds of that might change their mind universe. The thing to keep in mind, this is a National Snapshot of the mood of republicans. It doesnt say anything specifically about how people are going to caucus in iowa and New Hampshire. But the polls in those states tell the same story. I love that. You finish ed my sentence. Im sorry. Thats exactly right. Thats really key. And the other thing. Maybe not as dramatically where its more engaged. But it tells the same story. But the other thing i was going to say is that this is a snapshot of now, but it is, if you back to what it looked like in june, its a bigger lead for donald trump, but its still pretty consistent when you look at the dramatic lead that he has up against everybody else. 2012, where everyone had their day in the sun, there was a santorum week. Everyone had a week in the sun. Theres no sun. Its very cold for some of these. It will remain cold for a lot of these contenders. People thought going into debate, maybe folks would have a breakout moment. Desantis did decently in debate. But the polls dont show any sort of lift here. Republicans have been looking at donald trump since 2015. Hes been in their lives since 2015. In all of our lives for those many years, and they have become attached to him. Hes almost like a figure to them. They believe him over their pastors and religious leaders. He has a stickiness factor thats hard to shake. It was a little but of good news in that poll for some of the other candidates. If youre nikki haley and see youre rising up to the level of ron desantis as an alternative, thats good news. Its not double digits, the former president is still far above her and everybody else in the polls, but if it youre seeing some movement in that direction like she did, theres a little bit of meat on the bones to her argument that shes making progress. Everybody standby. Coming up, we have breaking news from capitol hill on senator Mitch Mcconnell and his health situ situation. What exactly happened when the minority lead froze in front of reporters last week. That was the second time this summer. Were going to give you all the news and all the details after a quick break. They offer two pairs and a free, quality eye exam starting at just 79. 95. I can see from your expression that you find d that shocking. Aaaaaaaand, you dontt have ears. Book an exam today at americasbest. Com. M. 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Make more of whats yours. upbeat music awww. Awww. Awww. Nope. Constant Contact delivers the Marketing Tools your Small Business needs to keep up, excel, and grow. Constant contact. Helping the small stand tall. please dont go by harry casey, Richard Raymond finch [ping] please dont go please dont go please dont go please dont go dont goooooo please dont go dont go away just in, Senate LeaderMitch Mcconnells Office Released an update on his health. Manu raju joins us. Reporter he said Mitch Mcconnell did not suffer a seizure or stroke or parkinsons disease. This in the aftermath of that moment last week, the second time in as many months where he froze between Television Cameras for roughly 30 seconds raising the number of concerns about the 81yearold Republicans Health and whether he can continue his job as republican leader. Longer than any part of the lead leader in history. But for the first time, his office providing more detiails about those ep toads indicating hes seen a neurologist. Im told by a source hes been evaluated by four neurologists in addition to the capitol hill physician, who said in this letter theres no evidence that you have a Seizure Disorder or you experienced a stroke. The letter wept on to say a number of examinations, including an mri test and other evaluations as well, such as monitoring electrical activity in the brain. All of this leading to the conclusion by the doctor that mcconnell can continue on his schedule as he had planned. And this coming at a critical time. The senate back in session after five weeks. There are a lot of questions in the capitol about mcconnell, how long he could hang on to his job and continue to perform at this level. It sure is. Just for the record, this is good news that all these major Health Situations are not out there for him when it comes to a diagnosis. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. I want to bring in our own neurologist dr. Sanjay gupta. Hes also cnns chief medical correspondent. When you read this very brief letter from the capitol physician, knowing what you know because its your lifes work about how the brain works, what does it tell you about what is happening . The letter does hit a lot of important notes. There was a level of concern going back to august 30th at that second episode, where the level of concern is that going to get a brain mri, an eeg and have consultations with four different neurorogss. Think about that thats a high level of concern to go from saying we think this is just Light Headedness, were going to chase this down. It shows the level of concern. Thats good. You want to make sure youre figuring out what is causing this. What was happening, the freezing episodes warranted enough concern to say, lets look at the possibility of are they some sort of tias, which are mini strokes, is this a seizure of some sort, a movement disorder. Medicine often works from the mantra of prepare for the worst, hope for the best. So you want to rule out, if you will, the worst things first. And those are the things that would be the worst possibilities to be causing these freezing episodes. I think whats still challenging, to your point, if you look at the timeline of what has happened with senator Mitch Mcconnell over the last year, it was back in march he had the fall that was really significant. He was hospitalized with a concussion. What they seem to be saying in the letter is that that concussion is what led to these episodes of Light Headedness and Light Haeadedness is leezing to freezing. Those are the difficult dots to connect. I i take care of a the of patient who is have brain injuries, which is what concussions are. They can have all sorts of different symptoms, but these are unusual. And they thought so, too, which is why they chased down with the level of detail they have seemed to chase it down. So interesting youre referring to the last line in the letter from the capitol physician saying there are no changes recommended in treatment prot protocols. As you continue your recovery from your march 2023 fall suggesting without saying pointblank that what youre seeing are the ramifications of that fall back in ma