- Republican support for another Trump bid has dropped significantly.
- Biden now leads Trump in head-to-head 47%-40%.
- Two-thirds of Republican and Republican-leaning voters want DeSantis to run.
Republican support for Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election is on the rise as the former president is plagued by midterm losses and court setbacks, an exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll finds.
By two to one, Republican and Republican-leaning voters say they want Trump’s policies but want another standard-bearer to implement them. While 31% want the former president to run, 61% want other Republican candidates to continue the policies Trump has pursued.
Two-thirds of Republicans and those who tend to vote Republican want Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to run for president. With double digits from 56% to 33%, they prefer DeSantis to Trump.
“Republicans and conservative independents increasingly want Trumpism without Trump,” said David Palaiologos, director of the Center for Political Studies at Suffolk University.
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The survey’s findings are a red flag for Trump, whose core support remains very high, even amidst a flurry of personal behavior, provocative rhetoric and some of his most controversial White House actions. It was firm. But he has been blamed for his role in fueling the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, his mishandling of classified documents when he left the White House, and his investigation to overturn the 2020 election results. I am becoming more and more confused about
Some Republican strategists blame Trump and his influence for the Republican party’s failure to seize control of the Senate in November. Candidates he helped recruit and support in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania lost races that independent analysts thought a more traditional candidate might have won.
A poll of 1,000 registered voters, taken Wednesday through Sunday by landline and mobile phone, has a margin of error of ±3.1%. The margin of error for her sample of 374 Republicans and independents leaning Republican is 5.1 points.
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Biden’s lead over Trump in head-to-head
Enthusiasm within the Republican Party for Trump’s third run for the White House has dropped significantly in recent months, according to a USA TODAY/Suffolk survey.
In July, 60% of Republicans wanted Trump to run again. By October, that number had dropped to 56% of his. Now he’s down to 47%, about even with his 45% who don’t want to run for a third time.
Ballots held in July and December were for registered voters. Polls in October showed a high chance of midterm elections.
Trump is also seen as less favorable by his supporters. The percentage of Republicans who view him favorably has dropped from 75% of him in October to 64% of him in December. His unfavorable rating saw him rise from 18% to 23%.
Among all voters, Trump is further behind President Joe Biden in a virtual head-to-head rematch. Biden now wins 47% to 40% in general election matches. (Biden’s margin is a bit wider than it suggests, at 7.8 points, due to rounding effects.) In October, Biden also led, but with a narrower margin of 46%-42%.
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As DeSantis rises to the top of the Republican Party, Biden sees a gap among Democrats
Biden’s political standing hasn’t gotten much worse, but it hasn’t gotten any better either.
Since October, his positive rating has increased by 1 point to 46%, and his negative rating has decreased by 1 point to 50%. But Democrat support for his re-election fell from 45% to 40%. Only 23% of all voters want to run again.
Biden currently leads Trump but trails DeSantis with 47% and Biden with 43%.
The governor of Florida, who entered his second term in the Sunshine State last month, holds a nationally important position. His two-thirds of Republican and Republican-leaning voters, 65%, want him to run for president in 2024.
DeSantis’ success may hinge on a one-on-one duel with Trump, Paleologos warned. “Add in the many other Republican presidential candidates splitting the anti-Trump vote, and you have a recipe for repeating the 2016 Republican caucuses and primaries,” he said.