Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

Poll Sheds New Light on Trump vs. De Santis in Potential Primary Battle

Former President Donald Trump holds a 14-point lead over potential 2024 Republican presidential nomination potential rival Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, according to a new poll in the early stages of the White House race.

The national survey from Quinnipiac University also indicates President Biden holding a four-point advantage over Trump and a razor-thin one-point edge over DeSantis in hypothetical 2024 general election matchups.

Trump stands at 46% support among Republicans and GOP-leaning voters questioned in the poll, which was conducted March 9-13, with DeSantis at 32%. The survey indicates Trump has expanded his lead over DeSantis. In Quinnipiac University’s February poll, the former president topped the Florida governor 42%-36%.

Trump became the first major Republican to declare his candidacy when he launched his third straight campaign for the White House in mid-November, soon after the 2022 midterm elections. DeSantis, though widely expected to run, has not announced whether he will.

“DeSantis might be the buzz in the GOP conversation, but, for now, Trump is seeing no erosion and, in fact, enjoys a bump in his lead in the Republican primary,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said.

More than two years after leaving the White House following his 2020 election defeat at the hands of Biden, Trump remains the most popular and influential politician in the Republican Party. Earlier this month, Trump once again overwhelmingly won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The largest annual gathering of conservative leaders and activists has become a Trumpfest since the former president’s 2016 election.

But Trump has taken plenty of incoming fire over his impact on the GOP’s lackluster performance in the midterms, received some unfavorable reviews following his mid-November campaign launch at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, and faced criticism over controversial comments and actions in the past two months.

Separately, legal scrutiny focusing on Trump appears to be intensifying, and possible indictments in the coming weeks could make him the first former president in American history to face criminal charges.

DeSantis saw his popularity soar among conservatives across the country over the past three years due to his forceful pushback against coronavirus pandemic restrictions and his aggressive actions as a culture warrior going after the media, corporations and teachers’ unions. The governor scored an overwhelming 19-point gubernatorial re-election victory in November, and in recent speeches, he has been spotlighting that his policy victories in Florida can serve as a roadmap for the entire nation.

Sources in DeSantis’ wider orbit have said any presidential campaign launch would come in the late spring or early summer, after the end of the current legislative session. However, the governor’s latest travel itinerary to the early voting states of Iowa and Nevada and a trip next month to New Hampshire are sparking more speculation about an increasingly probable White House run.

The governor is also traveling across the country, highlighting his “Florida blueprint” and promoting his newly released memoir, “The Courage to Be Free.”

According to the new Quinnipiac poll, former two-term South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley stands at 5% support. Haley launched her presidential campaign last month. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who’s moving toward a likely 2024 launch in the spring, stands at 3% support. No other potential or actual candidate mentioned in the survey tops 2%.

In an average of all the most recent national surveys in the GOP presidential nomination race compiled by Real Clear Politics, Trump stands at 44% support, DeSantis at 28%, Haley and Pence each at 6% and everyone else in the burgeoning field of contenders at 2% or less.

TOP STORIES

News

2 min readAs of the start of this week, the Kremlin said ‘no progress’ had been made in arranging peace talks on Ukraine between...

News

2 min readFox News Channel has announced that Lara Trump will host a new weekend primetime program titled “My View with Lara Trump,” which...

News

2 min readPresident Donald Trump’s newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to halt federal funding to sanctuary...

News

3 min readU.S. government agencies have dropped a staggering $34 million in contracts with Virginia-based news outlet Politico, mostly on subscriptions, according to data...

Advertisement