A Morning Consult survey released Tuesday showed that former President Donald Trump has the highest favorability rating in a hypothetical 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Trump leads the field of 11 candidates with an 80% approval rating, compared to 18% who disapproved of him. The next closest was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, of whom 73% approved, 9% disapproved, and 9% had no opinion about him. Another 9% said they had never heard of DeSantis.
Former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas were tied at 61% favorability ratings each. However, 31% of respondents had an unfavorable view of Pence, while only 19% did of Cruz.
Most other candidates, including former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, experienced modest approval under 50%.
Still, a large percentage of those respondents answered that they were unaware of them or their positions.
The only potential candidate respondents mostly disapproved of was former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, whom 53% viewed unfavorably compared to 18% who said otherwise.
The favorability number ultimately played a noticeable part in the survey's poll of the primary field. Trump led with 49% — followed by DeSantis at 31%, Pence at 7%, Haley at 3%, Cheney and Cruz both at 2%, with other candidates at 1% or less.
The survey was taken from Feb. 3-5 among 3,549 potential 2024 Republican primary voters and had an unweighted margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.