A new Rasmussen Reports poll showed that former President Donald Trump leads in a hypothetical 2024 GOP primary against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 13- points.
The survey released on Friday showed that 45 percent of likely Republican voters prefer Trump, while 32 percent said they would support the governor. Around 14 percent said they would support a candidate other than those too.
However, when the poll extends its scope to all likely voters, Trump manages to hold a lead by only 4 points, with 30 percent of respondents supporting Trump and 26 percent supporting DeSantis. The majority of those surveyed, 36 percent, have said that they would rather vote for a different candidate.
The poll was conducted by Pulse Opinion Research and has a 3-point margin of error. A total of 900 likely voters responded to the poll.
The GOP primary matchup is still hypothetical as DeSantis has not yet announced whether he would be running for the White House. Currently, the only two members in the GOP primary are Trump and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
DeSantis has the support of unaffiliated voters, with 30 percent stating they would support him while only 24 percent have said the same about Trump. Conservative voters also appear to prefer DeSantis over Trump by 41 percent vs. 37 percent. This gives DeSantis a 4-point advantage.
The survey also showed that 52 percent of voters have a favorable view of DeSantis, with 33 percent stating that they have a “very favorable” view of him. On the other hand, 41 percent view him unfavorably, and from those 31 percent view him “very unfavorably.”
