Republicans back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over former President Donald Trump by a double-digit margin in the latest poll of potential presidential candidates from USA Today and Suffolk University Poll.
More than half of Republicans want DeSantis to run, while about one-third want Trump to launch a third campaign for the White House: 56% back DeSantis; 33% back Trump.
The survey also found that most GOP voters want a Republican other than Trump to run, but they want the candidate to continue Trump's policies: 31% want Trump to run and continue his policies; 61% want another Republican to run and continue Trump's policies.
"Republicans and conservative independents increasingly want Trumpism without Trump," David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, told USA Today.
This latest poll shows a downturn in support for Trump since last July when 60% of Republicans wanted him to run again in a USA Today/Suffolk poll. Trump's favorability rating has also dropped among the GOP, from 75% in October to 64% in December.
Trump trails President Joe Biden in a head-to-head matchup if the election were held today, 47% to 40%, while DeSantis comes out ahead of Biden, 47% to 43%, according to the survey.
Paleologos noted that despite the strong polling numbers, DeSantis could still end up losing the nomination in 2024 the same way that Trump's rivals lost out on the nomination in 2016.
"Add in a number of other Republican presidential candidates who would divide the anti-Trump vote and you have a recipe for a repeat of the 2016 Republican caucuses and primaries, when Trump outlasted the rest of the divided field," Paleologos said.
USA Today and Suffolk University Poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters from Dec. 7-11 with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.