Former President Donald Trump has skipped appearances at the first and second Republican primary debates but continues to dominate the Republican field of candidates in election polls ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Here’s a look at the latest.
What Happened: While Trump’s civil fraud lawsuit from the state of New York plays out in court, Trump continues to overshadow the Republican field of candidates ahead of the 2024 election.
Court appearances and cases are a common theme for Trump in 2023 with a calendar filling up with dates alongside his campaign to become the president of the U.S. once again.
Republican voters appear to be unphased by Trump’s legal challenges. Trump continues to see strong backing from Republican voters and is the odds-on favorite to win the 2024 GOP nomination, barring any future setbacks or surges from rival opponents.
The latest Morning Consult poll of GOP voters shows Trump with a comfortable lead that grew over last week.
Here’s a look at who Republican voters would vote for today, with the percentage from last week in parentheses.
- Donald Trump: 62% (59%)
- Ron DeSantis: 13% (14%)
- Nikki Haley: 7% (7%)
- Vivek Ramaswamy: 6% (7%)
- Mike Pence: 5% (6%)
- Tim Scott: 2% (2%)
- Chris Christie: 2% (3%)
In the latest poll, Trump has a 49-point lead, which is up from the 45-point lead he had a week ago. Over the past nine weeks, Trump has had a lead of at least 43 points each week over his Republican competitors.
Related Link: Mitt Romney Not Running For Senate Or President, Former GOP Nominee Uniting Party For One Candidate To Beat Trump
Why It’s Important: The 62% support Trump has is one of the highest for the former president since polling began in December. Trump hit a high of 63% in mid-week polling two weeks ago, before hitting 61% in the full report.
The poll shows DeSantis losing a point from last week, which comes as he gained two points in the previous poll. After being considered a frontrunner to take on both Trump in the GOP race and Democrat Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election, DeSantis ranks clearly behind the former president for months.
Haley continues to rank strong in polls, holding steady at 7%. The former South Carolina Governor ranks third for a second straight week and has been gaining support in many polls.
Ramaswamy dropped one point, following a previous week where he dropped two percentage points. The biotech entrepreneur previously saw his support in the double digits for several weeks and was near the level of DeSantis for second place. The candidate now appears to be on the wrong side of the momentum swing, not being able to clear double digits for multiple weeks.
Trump ranked first for the candidate who voters heard the most positive things about with 37% saying they heard good news about the former president. Thirty-seven percent also said they heard something negative about Trump. In recent weeks, voters reported more positive news items about Trump than negative news items.
DeSantis ranked second with 30% saying they heard something positive, while 19% said they heard something negative.
DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy all had more positive news than negative news in the recent week for voters, but each candidate also had over 50% say they had heard nothing about them, which could be a bad sign in the current election news cycle.
Trump led the way with a 77% favorable rating, followed by DeSantis at 60%, Ramaswamy at 54%, Pence at 52% and Haley at 51%.
Haley ranked among the lowest for unfavorable rating with only 20%. Trump at 22% had one of the lowest unfavorable ratings for the week.
A third Republican debate is scheduled for Nov. 8 and candidates need to have 4% support in two national polls to qualify. The number of candidates on stage could be significantly lower than past primary debates.
The third debate media rights were won by Comcast Corporation CMCSA and streaming rights belong to Rumble Inc RUM.
With low ratings for the second debate and Trump’s strong lead, the third debate could quickly become a non-factor and see additional low ratings.
Trump is also rumored to be planning counterprogramming to the third debate, which could end up attracting more viewers than the next debate.
Read Next: Trump Leads Biden In Swing States, Voters Not Fans Of Bidenomics
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