More than a year before residents of Michigan will take to the polls to vote for the GOP candidate they think should be the next president, the potential swing state is showing mixed results among voters in a new poll.
What Happened: The 2024 election is likely to see a two-person race in the Republican Party to secure the nomination for the party’s presidential candidate. While many experts expect the election to come down to a race between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former president Donald Trump, only Trump has launched his official campaign.
The GOP party could see a crowded field in the 2024 election, with Trump and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley already announcing their candidacy. DeSantis is considered a front-runner by many and has yet to announce he is running.
Other potential Republican candidates include former Vice President Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Ted Cruz, Greg Abbott, Mike Pompeo and Liz Cheney.
The majority of polls show a close first and second-place battle between DeSantis and Trump. Benzinga previously reported that DeSantis led Trump in many of the polls that asked voters who they would vote between only the two mentioned candidates. Polls that gave voters more than two options have seen Trump jump to a lead.
Now, a new poll shows how DeSantis and Trump are faring in Michigan and how the demographic factors at play.
Related Link: Joe Biden Is Now The Betting Favorite For 2024 Presidential Election, Here's Where DeSantis And Trump Rank
The Michigan Poll: A new poll by Echelon Insights in the state of Michigan showed that 47% favor DeSantis for the GOP nomination, according to the New York Post. Trump came in second place in the poll with 42% of the vote. Eleven percent of those polled couldn’t decide or refused to answer.
Despite not officially declaring himself as a presidential candidate for the 2024 election, DeSantis received strong endorsements from several demographics.
Among senior voters, DeSantis edged Trump 54% to 32%. Men polled picked DeSantis by a 51% to 41% margin. Residents of Detroit, the most populous city in the state, also favored DeSantis with a 48% to 40% margin.
One area where Trump did beat DeSantis was among Republican women in the state of Michigan. Women favored Trump narrowly by a vote of 43% to 40%.
The battle between Trump and DeSantis could get scrappy, and the former president has already come up with several nicknames for DeSantis, including “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
In the Michigan poll, 30% said they had heard “a lot or some” about the nickname, while 68% said they were not familiar with the term.
Of those who had heard the nickname, 45% said it reflected “more poorly on Trump.” Fifty percent of those who had heard the nickname said it hadn’t changed their opinion. The remaining 5% said the nickname reflected “more poorly of DeSantis.”
Michigan is expected to be a battleground state and potential swing state in the 2024 election. Since 2000, Michigan has favored Democratic presidential candidates with the leading candidate getting over 50% in each election since 2000, with one exception.
The 2016 presidential election saw Trump win the state of Michigan by a narrow 47.5% to 47.3% margin, but failing to claim a 50% majority. President Joe Biden won Michigan in the 2020 election with a 50.6% to 47.8% margin in a matchup against Trump.
Patrick Ruffini, a pollster who oversaw the Echelon Insights survey, said the latest Michigan poll was “notable given Trump’s surprise victory there in 2016 and his past strength throughout the Midwest and Rust Belt states.”
Photo: Shutterstock and Gage Skidmore on flickr.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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