Former President Donald Trump holds a commanding lead over other potential Republican candidates in the 2024 presidential election, leading Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis by 43 percentage points, a new poll shows.
Asked who they would support in the 2024 election, 54 percent of Republicans picked Trump, while 11 percent chose DeSantis and 8 percent picked former Vice President Mike Pence, a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last month and released Friday found.
Trump has not officially announced another run for the White House, but he has said he’s “thinking about it.”
“I think a lot of people will be very happy, frankly, with the decision, and probably will announce that after the midterms,” he said in an interview in November.
Nikki Haley, the UN ambassador in the Trump administration, came in fourth with 4 percent of support, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 3 percent, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott getting 2 percent.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) each finished with 1 percent.
Fourteen percent answered “not sure.”
President Biden hasn’t said whether he will run for re-election in 2024 – a rematch of the 2020 contest.
While both have high familiarity ratings, Biden has a slight edge over Trump – 99 percent to 98 percent.
The other potential GOP candidates lag behind Trump in the familiarity ratings – with Cruz at 92 percent, Christie at 82 percent, and DeSantis at 76 percent.
Among potential Democratic presidential candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris has a 96 percent familiar rating and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has a 76 percent rating.
Biden’s favorability rating of 52 percent is slightly above Trump’s 44 percent.
Fifty-six percent say they have an unfavorable view of the former president, while 48 percent say that about Biden.
The poll surveyed 4,407 adults between Dec. 13 – 17.