Benzinga - A new poll shows the continued dominance of Republican front runner Donald Trump against a crowded field of contenders fighting to win the GOP nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
Along with the key storyline of Trump having a dominating lead, the poll shows a continued pair trade of one candidate climbing and another candidate falling.
What Happened: Despite facing multiple court cases linked to two previous indictments and a potential third indictment coming, former president Trump continues to see strong support among Republican voters.
The latest weekly election poll of Republican voters by Morning Consult shows Trump with a 43-point lead. Here’s a look at who Republican voters would vote for today, with the previous percentage from last week in parentheses.
- Donald Trump: 58% (59%)
- Ron DeSantis: 15% (16%)
- Vivek Ramaswamy: 9% (8%)
- Mike Pence: 7% (6%)
- Nikki Haley: 3% (4%)
- Tim Scott: 3% (2%)
- Chris Christie: 3% (2%)
DeSantis, who was long seen as a runner-up challenger to Trump, has hit a new low since polling began in December 2022 for a second straight week.
As DeSantis drops in the poll, Ramaswamy hits a new high of 9% of the vote — his largest percentage since polling began in December 2022. The move comes after Ramaswamy has held strong in third-place with 8% of support for three straight weeks after passing Pence five weeks ago.
Back on June 13, things looked much different in the poll, with the following results:
- Trump: 59%
- DeSantis: 19%
- Pence: 8%
- Scott: 4%
- Haley: 3%
- Ramaswamy: 3%
Why It’s Important: While the distance between Trump and GOP contenders widens, Ramaswamy continues to show promise in the data.
Along with moving up among those who would select him first, Ramaswamy has picked up support as a second-place option among the favorites.
Among voters who select Trump first, 33% chose DeSantis as their next selection, while Ramaswamy was selected by 20%. Last week’s poll saw 36% select DeSantis and 18% select Ramaswamy.
Of voters who select DeSantis first, 37% select Trump as their next selection, 16% select Pence and 15% select Ramaswamy. This was down slightly from the 17% of support from Trump voters Ramaswamy received in last week’s poll.
The favorability rating for Ramaswamy is 48% with an unfavorable rating of 13%, the lowest of all candidates surveyed for the week.
Trump and DeSantis lead the way in the favorable ratings at 71% and 63% respectively, but also have much higher unfavorable ratings at 26% and 23% respectively.
Ramaswamy continues to have an opportunity to gain in polls as more voters become aware of who he is. Twenty-three percent of voters said they’ve never heard of Ramaswamy and an additional 15% say they’ve heard of him, but have no opinion.
Of those who have heard of him, 34% say they’ve heard something positive about Ramaswamy in the recent week, which is the highest mark among candidates.
Part of the gains for Ramaswamy could be attributed to a Twitter/X Spaces hosted by Elon Musk and David Sacks that saw the presidential candidate answer questions and share details of his platform for nearly two hours, which has helped him increase his follower count as well.
Read Next: Trump Using American Idol Style Audition For Vice Presidential Candidate, 'Let Them Debate'
Image: Shutterstock
© 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.