Former President Donald Trump continued to lead the shrinking field of Republican presidential candidates ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Here's a look at the latest.
What Happened: Trump has dominated political headlines with an ongoing civil fraud lawsuit against the Trump Organization and his decision to skip multiple Republican primary debates.
Despite multiple courtroom appearances and a calendar full of court dates alongside his 2024 presidential campaign, Republican voters appeared to be unphased by Trump's legal challenges.
The former president continues to be backed by a majority of Republican voters and was the odds-on favorite to win his party's nomination for the 2024 presidential election, barring any future setbacks or surges from rival opponents.
The latest Morning Consult poll of GOP voters showed Trump with a comfortable 53-point lead over his Republican opponents.
Here's a look at who Republican voters would vote for today, with the percentage from last week in parentheses.
Donald Trump: 66% (64%)
Ron DeSantis: 13% (14%)
Nikki Haley: 10% (10%)
Vivek Ramaswamy: 6% (6%)
Chris Christie: 3% (3%)
In the latest poll, Trump holds a 53-point lead, up from a 50-point lead in the previous poll and tying a record set two weeks ago.
Trump has continued to post leads of 50 points or more in recent weeks.
Why It's Important: Trump returned to a record high of 66% set two weeks ago, tying his largest percentage since polling began in December.
DeSantis ranked second in the latest poll with 13% of support from Republican voters, losing one percentage point from the previous week. The Florida governor has fluctuated between 13% and 15% in recent weeks.
The decline comes after DeSantis took part in a television debate against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. The debate, which aired on Fox Corporation FOXFOXA-owned Fox News, saw the two governors trade insults at each other. Newsom also said that neither of the governors would end up being their political party's presidential candidates.
Nikki Haley ranked third for an eighth straight week as she continued to distance herself from former third-place holder Vivek Ramaswamy. Haley held steady at 10% of support, tying a high for the former South Carolina governor since polling began.
Trump ranked first in the poll with a favorable rating of 76% and had an unfavorable rating of 23%. This marked a second straight week of Trump's unfavorable rating increasing, going from 20% to 22% to 23% over the last two respective polls.
DeSantis ranked second in favorability at 62%, followed by Ramaswamy and Haley at 54% and 50% respectively. Each of the three candidates had an unfavorable rating of 23%, tied with Trump.
In the poll, 43% said they had heard something positive about Trump in the last week, with 32% saying they had heard something negative about Trump in the previous week.
A majority of people said they had heard nothing positive or negative about Haley or Ramaswamy in the last week.
The latest poll comes ahead of a fourth Republican primary debate that Trump will skip and will include appearances by DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy and Christie.
The debate is tonight (Dec. 6) at 8 p.m. ET on NewsBreak (website and streaming platform), the CW Network, which is owned by Paramount Global PARAPARAA, and Rumble RUM will live-stream it.
The 2024 election will be held on Nov. 5.
Photo: Shutterstock
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