by Ben Whedon
Former President Donald Trump enjoys a commanding 20-point lead over his nearest prospective competitor for the Republican Party primary nomination in 2024.
Trump took 48 percent support among registered voters in the latest Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey, which was released exclusively to The Hill. That metric puts him clearly ahead of his nearest would-be rival, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who commanded 28 percent support.
Former Vice President Mike Pence took third place with 7 percent while both Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley took 3 percent each. While only Trump has declared his candidacy, Haley has recently announced that she is mulling a bid of her own.
DeSantis improved his standing by three points over the previous month’s survey and stands as the runaway favorite in a primary without Trump. That matchup saw the Florida governor take 49 percent with Pence a distant second at 14 percent.
The poll surveyed 2,050 registered voters from Jan. 18-19.
The Harvard-Harris poll is not the only survey to show Trump staving off a surging DeSantis, as a recent Morning Consult poll showed the former president again taking 48 percent support, while DeSantis claimed 31 percent. No other candidate earned double-digit backing in that survey.
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Ben Whedon is the night editor for the Just the News. He came to the company from Breitbart News and is a graduate of Washington and Lee University.
Photo “Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Governor Ron DeSantis. Background Photo “White House” by AgnosticPreachersKid. CC BY-SA 3.0.
