New poll sees race between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis tightening: While most recent polls of the Republican presidential race have had Donald Trump with a wide lead, one recent survey has it close.
Donald Trump vs. DeSantis: Who Is Winning?
A CNN poll released Tuesday, in which voters described as “those who say they might participate in the 2024 GOP nomination process” were questioned, former President Donald Trump leads with 40 percent, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 36 percent. Vice President Mike Pence and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley had 6 percent each.
Trump and Haley, so far, are the only major declared candidates.
The results are significant because most polls, taken so far in the early going, have shown Donald Trump much further ahead than DeSantis. In the Yahoo News-YouGov poll, at the start of March, Trump led DeSantis 47-39, although the questions and samples were both different.
It is, of course, still early, and DeSantis is not officially in the race as of yet.
When asked whether they would choose a candidate who most aligns with their views, as opposed to someone with a strong chance to defeat President Biden, 59 percent chose the former and 41 percent picked the latter. And when asked what issue was most important to them in choosing a candidate, 32 percent of those surveyed answered the economy, with 16 percent choosing immigration and 13 percent citing “specific qualities they’d like to see in a candidate.”
When asked whether they believe Trump “has had a good effect on the party,” 62 percent said yes, while 25 percent said he’s “had a bad effect.”
The CNN poll also asked many other questions and reached conclusions beyond which candidates voters prefer.
Per CNN, “Republicans hold a dour outlook on the country and prioritize finding a 2024 nominee who shares their views on major issues over one with a strong chance to defeat President Joe Biden. Looking at Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, the poll found that just 30 percent of those asked “the country’s best days are still ahead of it.” In 2019, during the Trump presidency and prior to the start of the pandemic, that number among Republicans was 77 percent.
When asked about “the country’s increasing racial, ethnic and national diversity,” 61 percent of those surveyed said they see it as “enriching American culture,” while 38 percent see that as a threat, a number that has grown substantially since the last time the survey was taken. Meanwhile, 78 percent of Republican-aligned voters say that “society’s values on sexual orientation and gender identity are changing for the worse.”
As for whether they will pledge to back the eventual nominee, “ 7 in 10 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they would like the candidates to pledge their support to the eventual nominee regardless of who it is, while only 30% say they should not make that pledge,” CNN said.
Interest Is High
The survey also found that the most conservative voters are the most engaged with the primary contest in this early stage. And among those who consider themselves “very conservative,” 84 percent of those surveyed believe that President Biden was not legitimately elected in 2020.
As he’s been doing often, Trump took a shot at DeSantis on Truth Social over the weekend. After the Florida governor’s book was released and sold well, Donald Trump took the opportunity to downplay that, and also plug his upcoming collection of letters, “Letters to Trump.”
“Some in the Fake News are falsely stating that Ron DeSanctimonious’ book is doing as well as ‘LETTERS TO TRUMP,’ my new book,” Trump said on the social network. ‘This is FAKE NEWS in that LETTERS doesn’t even come out until April 25th. Ron has groups buying his book in order to inflate sales and, in fact, on the first day, his book was already 30% discounted. LETTERS TO TRUMP has much different pricing, and is a coffee table book.”
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Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
