If the GOP presidential nomination were held today, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would best former President Donald Trump — unless former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is on the ballot.
According to the latest Yahoo News/YouGov poll, DeSantis beats Trump 45% to 41% in a head-to-head matchup. That's with 11% saying they are not sure.
But when Haley is thrown into the mix, it's Trump 38%, DeSantis 35%, Haley 11% with 15% not sure.
Trump is the only candidate so far to declare, though DeSantis has been making clear moves that he intends to do the same. And Trump has noticed, giving him the nickname Ron "DeSanctimonious" even before he himself declared and while Trump was still campaigning for 2022 candidates.
Though Trump clearly sees DeSantis as a threat, he's been much less critical of Haley, who has mostly polled in the single digits. He has called her — his former U.N. ambassador — "disloyal," but has also somewhat encouraged her to run, saying, "Nikki has to follow her heart, not her honor. She should definitely run!"
Haley previously said she would not run if Trump entered the 2024 race, but has lately indicated she has changed her mind.
The poll also shows DeSantis would beat President Joe Biden if the general election were held today 44% to 43%. Trump, however, would lose to Biden 41% to 47%.
The poll shows most Republican and Republican-leaning voters want someone other than Trump, and that Haley is the strongest of the field.
At least five anti-Trump candidates look set to run in at least the early primaries, and that split of the vote only helps the former president and hurts DeSantis.
The Yahoo News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,585 U.S. adults interviewed online from Feb. 2 to 6, 2023. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification and current voter registration status.
Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. adults. The margin of error is approximately 2.8%.