Former President Donald Trump has maintained a massive lead in a hypothetical presidential primary, a Morning Consult/Politico poll found Wednesday.
The poll asked respondents, “If the 2024 Republican presidential primary were being held today, for whom would you vote?”
Fifty-two percent selected Trump, 19 percent chose Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), and eight percent chose former Vice President Mike Pence. No other Republican received more than three percent.
The poll sampled 2,005 registered voters from September 16-18 with a 2 point margin of error.
A July Morning Consult/Politico poll found similar results. Fifty-three percent supported Trump, 30 points greater than DeSantis, who was supported by 23 percent. No other potential contender reached double digits.
An August Amber Integrated poll also showed Trump leading a hypothetical matchup. Fifty percent supported Trump in a potential matchup, while the runner-up was DeSantis at 22 percent. Pence placed third at 6 percent.
Trump has been the favored Republican candidate among Republicans since he left office. In February of 2022, Trump held a lead of 52 points in a potential Republican primary.
The establishment media has tried to pit Trump against popular DeSantis. National polling shows a potential GOP primary between the two men would not be a close contest.
Florida state polling shows something different. According to a Wednesday USA Today/Suffolk University poll, DeSantis leads Trump in a hypothetical matchup (48-40 percent). In January, Trump was leading DeSantis by 7 points.
The Suffolk University pollster claimed the poll shows a shift in preferences from Trump to DeSantis.
“This doesn’t necessarily mean DeSantis would lead in any other GOP primary state … But it is one data point suggesting a shift in preferences from GOP voters away from Trump and toward DeSantis from Republicans who know both potential combatants quite well,” director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, David Paleologos, said.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.