In the latest Morning Consult tracking poll, former President Donald Trump leads Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 50 percentage points among potential GOP primary voters, 64% to 14%.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is in third place with 10% support, tying a record high, followed by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, with 6% support. They are followed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 3%, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, both at 1%.
The bulk of the GOP’s electorate (64%) would back Trump if the primary or caucus were held in their state today, down slightly from the record-high of 67% reached earlier this month. DeSantis, the No. 2 contender, is supported by 14% of potential GOP primary voters, according to the poll.
Trump is popular, with 75% of the party’s potential electorate, while 22% view him unfavorably, according to Morning Consult.
DeSantis' favorability rating has improved by 13 points over the past four weeks, with 67% expressing a favorable opinion and 19% expressing an unfavorable opinion of the Florida governor.
DeSantis is the second choice of 40% of potential GOP primary voters who are supporting Trump, followed by 22% who would back Ramaswamy, and 10% who would back Haley.
Roughly three in 10 potential Republican primary voters (29%) who do not support Trump as their first choice said he is their second choice, followed by 20% who said DeSantis, 16% who said Haley, and 12% who named Ramaswamy.
One in five Trump supporters said they do not know where their loyalties would fall if Trump weren’t in the race, compared with 9% of those backing someone other than him.
The Morning Consult survey was conducted Nov. 24-26, 2023 among 3,944 potential Republican primary voters, and has an unweighted margin of error of +/-2 to 3 percentage points for responses shown.