Zinger Key Points
- A weekly election poll shows how Republican voters would vote today for the GOP presidential candidates.
- Trump continues to hold a 50%+ lead over his Republican counterparts, but sees his lead shrink in the latest poll.
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Former President Donald Trump continues to post a big lead over the other Republican presidential candidates in most election polls ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Here's a look at the latest.
What Happened: Trump has dominated political headlines for months facing federal charges in multiple cases and multiple states seeking to remove the former president from the 2024 election ballot.
Republican voters appear unphased by the multiple courtroom appearances and calendar full of court dates for Trump.
The former president continued to be backed by a majority of Republican voters in a national poll ahead of the 2024 election. With primary season ready to begin, Trump is a huge favorite to win the Republican party nomination for the 2024 election.
The latest Morning Consult poll of GOP voters showed Trump with a comfortable 52-point lead over his Republican opponents, which dropped from a 55-point lead in the previous two polls.
Here's a look at who Republican voters would vote for today, with the percentage from last week in parentheses.
Donald Trump: 65% (66%)
Ron DeSantis: 13% (11%)
Nikki Haley: 11% (11%)
Vivek Ramaswamy: 5% (6%)
Chris Christie: 4% (4%)
Asa Hutchinson: 1% (1%)
Why It's Important: After posting a record 55-point lead in back-to-back polls, Trump's lead over his Republican counterparts falls slightly to 52 points. While he dropped in the poll, Trump has posted a 50-point lead in several consecutive weeks.
Trump's 65% support among Republican voters drops one percentage point after hitting 66% last week and a record 69% hit in late December mid-week polling ahead of the holidays.
After weeks of being tied with Haley, DeSantis jumps back to second place in the poll, gaining two percentage points. Once considered the frontrunner in the race and a possible candidate to beat both Trump in the primary and President Joe Biden in the general election, DeSantis has fallen drastically in recent months.
Haley has surged up the polls and remains stuck at 11%, a level she has posted in the poll for three consecutive weeks. Haley has received strong backing from donors and has been perceived as a debate winner by most experts, which could help her level of support moving forward.
A fifth Republican primary debate takes place Jan. 10 on CNN, a media outlet owned by Warner Bros. Discovery WBD. The debate will feature Haley going head-to-head with DeSantis as Trump will once again skip and Christie and Ramaswamy failed to qualify.
Instead of participating in the debate, Trump will take part in a town hall event that airs on Fox Corporation FOXFOXA-owned Fox News at the same time.
The poll found that voters may be more interested in the fifth debate than in previous primary debates. Forty-five percent of voters said the fifth debate was very important, compared to 40% ahead of the fourth primary debate held in December.
Voters seem most interested in hearing DeSantis and Haley talk about Trump, which was listed by 37% of voters.
Photo: Shutterstock
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