Former President Donald Trump has surged to 62 percent support in April among Republican primary voters, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has crashed to 16 percent, Emerson College polling trends show.
Since January, Trump has gained 20 points over DeSantis, when the former president held 55 percent of GOP support, with DeSantis at 29 percent support, a 26-point spread.
In February, Trump gained four points over DeSantis for a 30-point advantage. Trump’s support remained constant with 55 percent support, while DeSantis’s dropped four points to 25 percent.
In April, Trump surged 16 points from February over Desantis to a 46-point advantage. Trump’s support increased by seven points to 62 percent, while DeSantis’s plunged nine points to 16 percent.
According to the Emerson data, Trump’s GOP support remained mostly consistent throughout January and February, while DeSantis’s slightly dropped. The drastic separation between the two presidential hopefuls began after news of the Trump indictment broke on March 31. A few days later, Trump was arraigned in New York City.
Former President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team at his arraignment in a Manhattan court, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in New York. (Seth Wenig, Pool/AP)
Following the indictment, Trump’s polling numbers soared to 46 points over DeSantis’s. Trump’s dominance was somewhat at DeSantis’s expense. DeSantis lost nine points of support, while Trump’s support grew seven points, a nearly inverse correlation.
The data suggests the indictment has united the Republican Party behind the former president. Trump has appeared to galvanize support by harnessing the seemingly endless far-left attacks against him that have continued even after his presidency.
In one sentence on his Truth Social bio, Trump neatly packages those attacks into a call for support.
“THEY’RE NOT COMING AFTER ME, THEY’RE COMING AFTER YOU—I’M JUST STANDING IN THEIR WAY!” it reads.
April’s Emerson poll sampled 445 GOP voters from April 24-25 with a 4.6 point margin of error.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.