Former President Donald Trump remains the clear favorite in the Republican primary race, according to the latest Morning Consult poll, enjoying a significant 43-point lead over his nearest potential competitor.
The poll released Tuesday reveals that 61 percent of Republican primary voter respondents support Trump’s nomination.
In second place, with 18 percent of participants backing him, is Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who has yet to formally announce his candidacy.
Trump’s commanding lead over DeSantis widens
Trump’s commanding lead represents his most significant margin in the polling outfit’s ongoing “2024 GOP Primary Tracker”.
The gap between Trump and DeSantis has widened by two points since the previous week’s survey, in which Trump garnered 60 percent support compared to DeSantis’s 19 percent.
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Trump’s rivals lag behind with single-digit support
None of the other candidates managed to attain double-digit support in the current poll.
Former Vice President Mike Pence secured third place with six percent, followed by former Governor Nikki Haley (R-SC) and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, tied at four percent.
Former Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) attracts two percent of respondents’ support, while Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX), Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), and former Governor Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) all receive one percent.
DeSantis supporters queue behind Trump as second-choice
Regarding second-choice candidates, the poll asked Trump and DeSantis supporters for their preferences.
It reveals that a significant portion of DeSantis supporters, 43 percent, see Trump as their second choice.
Pence comes in second among DeSantis supporters, with 15 percent selecting him as their second choice, followed by Haley at 13 percent and Ramaswamy at nine percent.
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Trump supporters choose DeSantis as second-choice
Likewise, among Trump supporters, DeSantis is the preferred second choice for 44 percent of respondents, followed by Pence at 15 percent, Ramaswamy at ten percent, and Haley at five percent.
The Republican primary portion of the poll involved 3,571 potential GOP primary voters and had a margin of error ranging from two to four percentage points.
Biden edges Trump in hypothetical election matchups
The poll also examined hypothetical general election matchups between the top-performing Republicans and President Joe Biden.
In a rematch of the 2020 election, Biden leads Trump by a margin of 44 percent to 41 percent.
Nine percent would vote for another candidate, while six percent remain undecided.
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Biden hypothetically edges DeSantis by 43 percent
In a hypothetical contest between DeSantis and Biden, Biden holds a slight advantage with 43 percent compared to Trump’s 41 percent.
Ten percent of respondents support another candidate, and six percent are undecided.
The general election portion of the poll involved approximately 6,000 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus one percent ensuring accuracy in capturing the sentiments of registered voters.
However, as history has shown us, polls are merely an indication, and the actual results can be far different.
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