Trump Vs. DeSantis: New Poll Finds This One Is Losing Ground With Republican Voters

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is rumored to be prepping to join the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, but his support among the public has been on the wane, a new poll finds.

What Happened: Former President Donald Trump has extended his lead over DeSantis among voters, according to results from the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll made available exclusively to The Hill. The poll was conducted among 1,838 registered voters, between Feb. 15 and Feb. 16.

Trump has the support of 46% of the respondents for claiming the Republican nomination, compared to 23% for DeSantis. The same poll conducted a month ago showed that the Florida Governor had the support of 28% of respondents, compared to 48% for Trump.

The recent poll also found that 39% of Republican voters said they would prefer DeSantis if Trump were taken out of the equation. The increase in support, as suggested by the numbers, would still mean a problem for DeSantis, as it represented a 10-percentage point decline from the January poll.

Among the others favored were former Vice President Mike Pence, who saw a slight uptick in support to 17%, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has seen her support increase by 5 percentage points to 10%.

The consolation for DeSantis is that he is well ahead of Pence in the race, and he could gain further ground when he formally announces his candidacy, Hill said.

See Also: Trump Takes A Pot-Shot At Nikki Haley, Says He Did South Carolina A 'Favor' By Choosing Her For UN Ambassador

Why It’s Important: Trump and Haley are the ones who have officially announced their intentions to run to secure the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.

Bloomberg recently reported that DeSantis could make a formal announcement in late spring or early summer after the state legislative session ends.

A recent Yahoo! News/YouGov poll found that DeSantis would win a two-way race with Trump, but would be edged out by the latter if Haley joins the fray. The poll was conducted before the former South Carolina governor threw her hat into the ring this week.

Now Read: Moving Past Trump? Koch-Backed Group Pushes For President Who Represents 'New Chapter'