Donald Trump’s legal travails haven’t yet hindered his 2024 presidential bid, a new poll from the Wall Street Journal has found.
What Happened: Trump clearly leads the pack in a potential field of 12 Republican candidates, snagging 48% support from Republican primary voters as opposed to 24% for runner-up and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the poll found.
The results were based on a survey of 600 likely Republican primary voters that was conducted between April 11-17.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is a distant third with 5% support, followed by 3% for Senator Tim Scott and 2% for entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. All three have announced their candidacy for the presidency. The rest of the contenders received less than 1% of votes each. Approximately 13% of respondents said they were still undecided.
In a head-to-head matchup between Trump and DeSantis, the former president leads with 51% support from voters as opposed to the latter’s 38%. This marks a reversal from December, when the Florida governor had a 14-point advantage over Trump.
Is DeSantis Losing Ground? With the first primary balloting more than eight months away, DeSantis has ceded significant ground to Trump primarily due to the former's unwillingness to engage in Trump's antics and a fear of alienating Trump supporters, the Wall Street Journal noted. The publication reported that several U.S. House members from Florida recently overlooked DeSantis and endorsed Trump instead. The Florida governor also received flak for describing the war in Ukraine as a territorial dispute.
Trump, on the other hand, has stepped up his criticism of DeSantis. GOP voters have also rallied around the former president in the wake of criminal charges that were filed against him.
When asked to vote between Trump and DeSantis on certain traits, GOP primary voters who were polled said they saw Trump as the stronger leader with a more impressive record. On the other hand, a majority of voters believed that DeSantis had the better chance of beating President Joe Biden in the general election.
Read Next: Trump Successfully Courts Florida Lawmakers, Outmanouvering Ron DeSantis On Home Turf
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