Morning Consult Poll: Trump Takes Biggest Lead Yet over DeSantis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis INSET: Donald Trump
AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File/AP Photo/Phil Sears, File
Hannah Knudsen

Former President Donald Trump is boasting his biggest lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis among Republicans, a Morning Consult survey found.

The survey found Trump’s lead ticking up from 55 percent support last week to 56 support this week. DeSantis, meanwhile, saw his support declining, going from 26 percent to 23 percent this week.

In other words, Trump has expanded his lead over DeSantis in the last week, going from a 29 point lead to a 33 point lead — his greatest lead yet in this particular survey.

No other potential competitor comes close. Former Vice President Mike Pence comes in third place with seven percent support, followed by former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley (four percent) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (three percent).

No other potential challenger — from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — saw greater than one percent support. GOP presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson just saw one percent support each:

Per the survey:

Trump’s Lead Widens Over DeSantis: Former President Donald Trump is backed by 56% of potential Republican primary voters, compared with 23% who back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s expected to launch his own primary bid in the coming months. That 33-percentage-point lead over the past several days marks Trump’s largest since Morning Consult’s tracking of the hypothetical match-up began in December.

This reflects a significant increase for Trump long term. In early January, just 11 percent separated him from DeSantis in this survey.

As is consistent with past surveys, a plurality of Trump supporters, 48 percent, still choose DeSantis as their second choice candidate. Forty-one percent of DeSantis supporters choose Trump as their second choice candidate as well.

Further, Trump appears to perform against Biden slightly better than DeSantis, as he trails Biden by one point among registered voters. DeSantis trails by two. However, both are within the  +/- 2 percent margin of error.

The GOP-centric section of the survey was taken April 7-9, 2023, among 3,608 potential Republican primary voters and has a  +/-2 margin of error.

The latest results are telling, as they come one week after Trump’s arraignment in New York City. Survey after survey has suggested that the indictment will only increase Trump’s support from Republicans, which could massively backfire on Democrats while making it even more difficult for another GOP hopeful to break through.

Further an Economist/YouGov survey taken through Trump’s arrest found registered voters backing Trump over Biden in a potential 2024 head-to-head matchup, as the former president leads by two percent:

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