Trump DOUBLES lead over DeSantis for 2024 GOP presidential nomination: poll

A new poll from Fox News has revealed that former President Donald Trump has expanded his lead against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 presidential race.

The survey, released on Wednesday, found that Trump has doubled his lead over DeSantis since February. Among the 15 announced and potential candidates for the 2024 GOP nomination, 54 percent of Americans said they would vote for Trump while 24 percent said they would vote for DeSantis. In February, this was at 43 and 28 percent, respectively.

Among the other options, no other candidate or potential candidate reached the double digits. Mike Pence received six percent, down from seven percent last month, Liz Cheney received three percent, up from two percent, and Nikki Haley received 3 percent, down from seven percent. Texas Governor Greg Abbott received just two percent, remaining the same from February. 


GOP nominee preference: Fox News poll

The poll found that Trump has gained voters among almost every key demographic except for White men with college degrees, where DeSantis is up by 12 points.

Among those who voted for Trump in 2020, 60 percent said they would support him again in the 2024 GOP primary, while 25 percent said they would vote for DeSantis and 5 percent said they would vote for Pence. 

When asked what their second choice would be, Americans who said they would vote for Trump as their primary candidate said they would vote for DeSantis, and DeSantis supporters said they would vote for Trump.

"The rumor that Trump is going to be indicted by the district attorney in Manhattan has helped him quite a bit among Republican primary voters," said Daron Shaw, a Republican pollster who conducts Fox News surveys along with Democrat Chris Anderson. "They view the case as politically motivated and it reanimates feelings that Trump is still fighting forces they see as corrupt and out of control."

The poll also found that a slight majority, 52 percent, of Democrats would like to see someone other than Joe Biden as the party’s nominee for the presidential election, down one point from February.

44 percent said they wanted to see Biden as the nominee, up from 37 percent in February.


Democrat presidential nominee: Fox News Poll

This is down compared to Trump’s numbers in February 2019, which found that 72 percent of registered GOP voters wanted to keep Trump as their nominee, or Democrat voters who in 2012 wanted to keep former President Barack Obama, at 81 percent.

The poll was conducted between March 24 and 27, in partnership with Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research of 1,007 registered voters. The poll has a margin of error 3 points for all registered voters, 5 points for Democratic primary voters, and 4.5 points for Republican primary voters.

RealClearPolitics’ average of polls places Trump at a 16.8 percent lead over DeSantis, with Trump receiving 45.7 percent of the support, while DeSantis received 28.9 percent.

In response to the poll, Trump wrote on Truth Social, "The new Fox Poll has just been released and, it’s bad news for Ron DeSanctimonious and his RINO Globalist Donors, probably because of his terrible Votes against Social Security and MediCare, and also, of course, because people love the job I did as President of the United States. We were Number One in every category, respected all over the World, and now our Country is going down the 'tubes'—We are a Failing Nation!"