Former President Donald Trump is maintaining a dominant lead in the Republican primary race, even in the wake of the news of him being the target of another investigation, the latest Monmouth University survey found.
In a crowded 14-candidate field, Trump leads with majority support, garnering 54 percent among Republican voters. As is consistent with other national surveys, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis falls to a distant second, 32 points behind with 22 percent support.
Anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy placed third, 17 points behind DeSantis with five percent support.
Three percent chose South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and former Vice President Mike Pence. All others saw two percent support or less.
“When asked whom they would like to see as the Republican nominee for president in 2024, 46% of GOP-aligned and leaning voters name Trump and 20% name DeSantis without any prompting,” Monmouth reported, noting that Trump’s support increased to 54 percent when candidates were listed.
Trump also bests DeSantis in a head-to-head matchup, 55 percent to DeSantis’s 35 percent.
“These results are similar to a Monmouth poll taken two months ago when DeSantis officially launched his campaign,” according to Monmouth.
Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, observed that DeSantis “has not made any headway.”
“The arguments that he’d be a stronger candidate and a more effective president than Trump have both fallen flat,” he added.
The survey also found that 45 percent “definitely” view Trump as the strongest candidate against Biden, with 24 percent saying he is “probably” the strongest candidate. Only 22 percent of Republicans said DeSantis would be a “stronger” candidate than the former president.
The survey was taken July 12-19, 2023, among 681 Republicans and Republican-leaning voters and has a +/- 5.9 percent margin of error. The release came the same day as the weekly Morning Consult survey, which found Trump leading the GOP field by a 43 point margin. That same survey showed DeSantis sinking to 16 percent, which the survey described as a “weekly tracking low.”
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