Poll: Majority Support Trump in Texas as DeSantis Slips into the Teens

Former President Donald Trump is dominating in the hypothetical 2024 Texas primary race, a recent Defend Texas Liberty PAC survey found.

The Lone Star State survey listed several likely Republican primary contenders, as well as those who have officially announced. The list includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, and anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

In that group, Trump still dominates with over half, 54 percent, choosing him as their preferred GOP candidate. No other potential challenger comes remotely close. DeSantis dipped into the teens, falling 38 points behind with 16 percent support. Fifteen percent remain unsure, as the remaining potential candidates saw five percent support or less.

Haley received five percent support, while Cruz received just four percent support in his home state. Pence and Ramaswamy followed with three percent support each, Hutchinson saw one percent support, and Scott — who is expected to make a presidential announcement on May 22 — garnered zero percent support:

The survey was taken from April 29 to May 1, 2023, among 699 likely 2024 Texas GOP primary voters. The margin of error is +/- 3.707 percent.

The trends are favoring Trump in this particular survey, as DeSantis actually led Trump in this same survey in November 2022, 43 percent to Trump’s 32 percent. That all began to change in January, as Trump edged out DeSantis by one percent— a lead that has only grown month by month:

The trends are certainly in Trump’s favor, as he is leading not only in national surveys but additional state-level surveys as well. Last month’s Victory Insights survey, for instance, found Trump besting DeSantis in the Sunshine State by eight percent:

“Further, O.H. Predictive Insights’ (OHPI) recent Utah Public Opinion Pulse (UTPOP) survey found Trump leading by 18 points in Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) Utah, and a recent University of New Hampshire survey shows Trump holding a 20-point lead in the Granite State.”

The latest Morning Consult survey, updated weekly, showed Trump with his biggest lead yet in the GOP field, boasting a 41-point lead with 60 percent support nationally.