Donald Trump’s Lead Grows by Double Digits in Texas, Ron DeSantis Falls

Former President Donald Trump has jumped 13 points in Texas’s Republican primary race since July, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has lost steam, a Defend Texas Liberty PAC/CWS Research survey released this week found.

The survey asked likely 2024 Texas Republican primary voters whom they would support if the GOP primary were held today.

A majority, 61 percent, said they would support Trump, reflecting a 13 point bump from the 48 percent who chose him in the July issue poll. No other candidate listed saw a bump even close to Trump’s.

On the contrary, DeSantis came in a distant second with ten percent support— three points lower than the 13 percent he saw in July.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley saw a two-point increase, moving from three percent to five percent. Former Vice President Mike Pence also moved from four percent support to five percent support. Three percent chose anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy— a one-point drop from July. Two percent chose New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, which also reflects a two-point drop from July.

Just one percent chose former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and one percent chose South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. That reflects a four-point drop from July for Scott.

📊 2024 TEXAS GOP PRIMARY

Trump 61% (+13)
DeSantis 10% (-3)
Haley 5% (+2)
Pence 5% (+1)
Ramaswamy 3% (-1)
Christie 2% (-2)
Hurd 2% (-1)
Scott 1% (-4)
Hutchinson 1%
.
H2H:
Trump 62% (+9)
DeSantis 24% (-5)

[Change vs July]@CWS_Research | 9/1-4 | 406 LVhttps://t.co/f62GiNPola pic.twitter.com/o8gb8dDXGE

— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) September 12, 2023

The survey was taken September 1-4, 2023, among 406 respondents and has a +/- 4.864 percent margin of error.

It comes as Trump continues to dominate in both national and state-level surveys across the board, consistently besting his challengers by double digits.

Two Trafalgar Group surveys released in August, for example, showed Trump leading in New Hampshire by 39 points and in Iowa by 26 points.

DeSantis’s campaign, meanwhile, is continuing to focus on the first three states rather than Super Tuesday states, but Trump continues to dominate in all of them.

A memo leaked in July on the DeSantis campaign’s strategy stated [emphasis added]:

Ron DeSantis is running a campaign to win everywhere. It would be a mistake to take a paid media and field program off the table in service of other states, we will not cede New Hampshire. From what we can tell, pro-DeSantis efforts are currently and will continue to run a robust effort in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire, that includes paid media and field.

While Super Tuesday is critically important, we will not dedicate resources to Super Tuesday that slow our momentum in New Hampshire. We expect to revisit this investment in the Fall.

Exclusive — Trump on DeSantis: ‘He’s Crashing Badly,’ Will Be ‘Superseded’ in Second Place

Matthew Perdie / Breitbart News, Jack Knudsen / Breitbart News