A new poll among Republican voters shows former President Donald Trump maintaining a commanding lead of GOP support heading into the 2024 election.
Despite two indictments (one in New York and the other in Florida) plus a third set of criminal charges likely, Trump commands a 35-point lead ahead of Governor Ron DeSantis and is far ahead of other challengers for the Republican nomination, a new election poll from Morning Consult shows.
Here is the latest look at who Republican voters favor, according to Morning Consult, with its previous poll result from last week in parentheses:
- Donald Trump: 55% (56%)
- Ron DeSantis: 20% (17%)
- Vivek Ramaswamy: 8% (8%)
- Mike Pence: 7% (7%)
- Nikki Haley: 4% (3%)
- Tim Scott: 3% (3%)
- Chris Christie: 2% (3%)
All other candidates in the poll had less than 1% of support among Republican voters.
Trump dropped just one point from the previous poll for the second week in a row, while DeSantis bounced back three points from last week’s 17% show of support — his lowest in the Morning Consult poll since tracking began in December 2022.
Outside the top candidates, Haley went up one-point and Christie dropped one-point.
Voters who support Trump as their favorite list DeSantis as their next favorite candidate at 40%, with Ramaswamy at 17% and Pence at 14%. Voters who support DeSantis as their favorite list Trump as their next favorite candidate at 41%, with Ramaswamy at 14%, Pence at 14% and Scott at 14%.
Entrepreneur and GOP candidate Ramaswamy holds steady at 8%, trailing only Trump and DeSantis among the Republican voters polled. Ramaswamy had seen his percentage increase in two consecutive polls.
While his percentage has increased recently, there appears to be more opportunity for Ramaswamy going forward.
In the favorability rankings by Morning Consult, Ramaswamy has a positive rating of 53% and a negative ranking of 13%. A total of 23% polled said they have never heard of Ramaswamy, with an additional 12% saying they have heard of Ramaswamy, but have no opinion.
This offers up an opportunity for the entrepreneur in the coming weeks if he can drum up additional name recognition and support. The 52% favorability is the highest for Ramaswamy since his official campaign was launched in February.
Betting odds list Ramaswamy as an underdog to win the 2024 election at +6600, but his odds have also improved in recent months going from unranked to +10,000 to +8,000 to his current odds, suggesting momentum gained among polls and bettors.
With high numbers in the polls, Trump is currently facing two indictments, on from the Manhattan DA related to the hush money payments and another for the mishandling of classified documents.
Trump could face two indictments coming in the summer from special counsel Jack Smith for the events leading up to January 6 and the Georgia election interference by Fulton County DA Fani Willis.
Produced in association with Benzinga
Edited by Alberto Arellano and Joseph Hammond
