Trump would easily beat DeSantis in Republican primary, new Harvard poll shows trends now
Ex-president Donald Trump would easily beat off the challenge of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a Republican primary, a new poll shows.
The poll, from Harvard CAPS-Harris, and published by The Hill, shows that just under half of GOP voters would favor Trump in the primary.
The former host of The Apprentice would have 48 percent of the vote, giving him a 20 point advantage over DeSantis, considered by many to be the rising star of the Republican party.
Trump's poll numbers have also risen by three per cent in the last month, despite him facing a slew of investigations, and questions as to why the candidates he backed in midterms flopped against their Democrat rivals.
The also-rans in the poll were Trump's former VP Mike Pence, who garnered seven percent, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley received just three percent respectively.
The poll, from Harvard CAPS-Harris, and published by The Hill, shows that just under half of GOP voters would favor Trump in the primary
Polling from late last year showed that DeSantis was eating into Trump's popularity, that bump appears to have fizzled
Speaking to The Hill, the co-director of the poll, Mark Penn, said: 'Trump has strengthened somewhat but Ron DeSantis continues to strengthen as well. Trump is ahead but already has every vote he can get — DeSantis is the candidate of potential.'
The poll surveyed 2,050 registered voters from across the US between January 18th and 19th.
The Harvard poll echoed the findings of a Morning Consult poll that was published earlier this week that also gave Trump 48 percent of the vote. That poll surveyed 3,763 potential Republican primary voters.
In that poll, Trump beat out DeSantis by a healthy 17 points.
These findings come after multiple polls suggested DeSantis could edge out Trump as the Republican favorite - though it's still much too early to tell.
As consistent with most similar polls, Trump and DeSantis are the top two runaway favorites at this moment in the election cycle. No other candidate manages to crack 10 percent.
Though the Florida governor has not explicitly shared interest in running for the White House in 2024, his refusal to rule out a potential primary challenge to Trump has infuriated the former president.
Late last year, polling showed DeSantis eating into Trump's popularity in the
