Poll: Trump Favorability Skyrockets, 4 in 10 Republicans View Mike Pence Unfavorably

US President Donald Trump watches US Vice President Mike Pence speak during the daily brie
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Four in ten Republican primary voters view former Vice President Mike Pence unfavorably, as former President Donald Trump’s favorability skyrockets following his third indictment, this week’s Morning Consult survey found.

The survey showed Trump maintaining his dominant position, 43 points ahead of his GOP challengers with 59 percent support. This week, Pence dropped to fourth place, behind Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy with six percent support, overall.

The survey also found Pence’s unfavorable rating ticking up by two points, moving from 39 percent last week to 41 percent this week. Nevertheless, Pence’s favorable rating is still above water, as 49 percent report a favorable view. In all, however, Pence has the second highest unfavorable rating among all GOP candidates. He is second only to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, as 45 percent have an unfavorable view of the presidential hopeful.

Trump’s favorable rating skyrocketed to 81 percent over the past week after his D.C. arraignment, representing a 10-point jump from the 71 percent who reported a favorable view last week. His unfavorable rating also decreased from 26 percent to 17 percent. DeSantis also saw a boost, moving from 63 percent viewing him favorably last week to 69 percent this week. Nineteen percent currently view the Florida governor unfavorably.

Morning Consult also highlighted the strides made by Ramaswamy, who now has 56 percent viewing him favorably, consistently diminishing his lack of name-recognition week by week.

“Ramaswamy is more popular than ever: The bulk of the expected GOP electorate (56%) holds positive views of entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, marking his highest favorability rating since he launched his campaign in February,” Morning Consult observed.

Pence is also struggling to emerge as the top second choice of Trump and DeSantis supporters. Just 13 percent of DeSantis voters choose Pence as their second choice candidate, and 13 percent of Trump supporters choose Pence as their second choice candidate as well.

The favorability portion of the survey was taken August 3-5, 2023, among 796 potential Republican primary voters. It has a +/- 4 percent margin of error.

It comes as tension heats up between Trump and his former running mate, as Pence essentially accused Trump of asking him to disregard the Constitution.

WATCH — Mike Pence: Trump Asked Me to Overturn the Election, ‘Reject the Vote Outright’

“WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side,” Trump said, reacting to Pence’s criticisms on Truth Social.

“I never told a newly emboldened (not based on his 2% poll numbers!) Pence to put me above the Constitution, or that Mike was ‘too honest.’ He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy,” Trump said, adding, “I once read a major magazine article on Mike. It said he was not a very good person. I was surprised, but the article was right. Sad!”

These tensions have bubbled over with voters as well, as some Trump supporters confronted Pence in New Hampshire last week, deeming him a traitor and sellout.

Wednesday’s Real Clear Politics average of polls showed Pence with five percent support — 48.9 points behind Trump’s average.

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