The percentage of Republicans who choose loyalty to former President Donald Trump over the GOP has plummeted to a new low, according to a new poll conducted by NBC News.

Among registered GOP voters, only 33 percent view themselves as more a “supporter of Donald Trump” over the Republican Party. In comparison, 58 percent of respondents say that they view themselves as a “supporter of the Republican Party.” Only 3 percent say both and 4 percent neither.

“The share of those supporting Trump primarily is slightly below the previous low, a 34% mark from a May 2022 poll of Republican adults,” NBC News wrote. “Trump's loyalty among registered Republicans has been as high as 54% in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll from late October of 2020.”

The poll further revealed that in the wake of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, 56 percent of registered voters say that the investigations into Trump should continue, while 41 percent say they should not.

Overall, 34 percent of registered voters have a positive view of Trump, 12 percent a neutral view, and 54 percent a negative view.

Meanwhile, as reported by CNBC, last Friday the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to temporarily block a federal judge’s ruling that prevents it from accessing hundreds of pages of classified records seized at Trump’s residence.

“The district court has entered an unprecedented order enjoining the Executive Branch’s use of its own highly classified records in a criminal investigation with direct implications for national security,” the Justice Department wrote in its motion.

On Thursday, Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated by Trump in 2020, rejected the Justice Department’s request to resume a key part of its inquiry into Trump’s handling of government records. Additionally, she appointed Brooklyn-based Senior Judge Raymond Dearie, put forward as a possible candidate by Trump, as a special master and gave him authority to make decisions on questions of executive privilege. The Justice Department also endorsed Dearie’s appointment.

According to Cannon, the special master will be responsible for reviewing “seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege.” She noted that the “Court is mindful that restraints on criminal prosecutions are disfavored but finds that these unprecedented circumstances call for a brief pause to allow for neutral, third-party review to ensure a just process with adequate safeguards.”

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Finance and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters.