KEY POINTS
- Ron DeSantis barely leads Donald Trump in terms of who has a better chance in 2024, a poll shows
- Republicans still prefer Trump as the GOP nominee over other potential presidential candidates
- Most of survey respondents said they disapproved of Trump’s third presidential campaign
With over 400 days before the first vote for the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries, former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are neck and neck in a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll.
The poll of 1,635 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Dec. 1 to 5, asked Republicans or Republican-leaning independents who they would be voting for in a Trump-DeSantis matchup scenario.
The survey showed a dead-heat battle for the GOP nomination, as Trump and DeSantis both registered 42% of voting intention.
Trump had the edge over DeSantis for age groups 18-29 and 30-44, but they tied for adults aged 45-64.
DeSantis led Trump among seniors 65 and older with an 11-percentage point lead, 46% to 35%.
When Republican respondents were asked who has a better chance of winning the 2024 presidential race, 44% said Trump has a shot at winning the White House, while 41% said a generic GOP candidate would have a better chance.
But the same survey showed that DeSantis would have a better chance of winning the presidency in 2024 than Trump, 43% to 42%.
The latest opinion poll showed that the GOP support is shifting to DeSantis after he won his gubernatorial re-election bid by a landslide in last month’s midterm elections.
On the other hand, support for Trump is crumbling just weeks after he launched his third bid for the presidency.
About 51% of U.S. adults disapproved of Trump’s decision to run again for the White House, compared to 31% who said they supported the former president’s comeback campaign, according to the poll.
About 44% of survey respondents said Trump would be a weaker candidate for the 2024 race, while 26% said Trump would be a stronger candidate compared to the previous 2020 election.
The latest survey was released a few days after Trump suggested that the Constitution should be terminated to reinstate him as president and invalidate the 2020 election results.
Trump’s remark was condemned by both parties.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said any potential presidential candidate who thinks the Constitution could be terminated would have difficulty being sworn in as president.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said he “fully supports the Constitution” when asked about Trump’s comment, but he did not further elaborate.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates described the former president’s remark as an “anathema to the soul of the nation.”
California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell challenged other Republicans to call out Trump, questioning how they could continue to call themselves “Constitutional conservatives.”
Brynn Anderson/AP
