Trump's 43-Point Lead Narrows In Latest Republican 2024 Election Poll: How The Numbers Stack Up Now

A new poll leading up to the 2024 presidential election reveals a slight dip in former President Donald Trump's 43-point lead over other Republican contenders.

What Happened: Support for Trump fell in an updated weekly poll, which was conducted before the former president faced a fourth indictment.

Even with three indictments and federal charges when the poll was taken, Trump still maintains a significant lead among Republican voters over his rivals.

The latest weekly election poll of GOP voters by Morning Consult shows Trump with a 41-point lead, dropping from a 43-point lead he maintained for three straight weeks.

Here’s a look at who Republican voters would vote for today, with the previous percentage from last week in parentheses.

Donald Trump: 57% (59%)
Ron DeSantis: 16% (16%)
Vivek Ramaswamy: 9% (8%)
Mike Pence: 7% (6%)
Nikki Haley: 3% (3%)
Chris Christie: 3% (3%)
Tim Scott: 3% (3%)

Trump was the only major candidate to see a drop in his results, with Ramaswamy and Pence each gaining a point in the votes.

Despite the two-point drop by Trump, he still commands a sizable lead of 41 points. The lead falls a bit though after three straight weeks of 43-point leads, which came as an improvement of leads in the high 30s (35 points and 38 points) in prior weeks.

Why It’s Important: DeSantis held steady at 16% of the vote for a second straight week, which came after the Florida governor had hit new lows since polling began in December 2022 for two straight weeks.

Benzinga also reported on the Emerson College poll Tuesday, which saw DeSantis get passed by Chris Christie for second place among Republican voters.

DeSantis has seen his numbers drop in recent polls and also announced a new campaign manager as he looks to regain momentum ahead of the first Republican primary debate, set for Aug. 23.

Ramaswamy comes in third place for a fifth straight week and gains one point to a high of 9% since he announced his candidacy earlier this year.

Among voters who select Trump first, 36% chose DeSantis as their next selection, while Ramaswamy was selected by 23%. Last week’s poll saw 35% select DeSantis and 22% select Ramaswamy.

Of voters who support DeSantis, 37% selected Trump as their next selection, 21% chose Ramaswamy and 14% picked Pence. In the prior week, 42% selected Trump, 19% picked Ramaswamy and 13% chose Pence.

Ramaswamy gained support as the second candidate among both Trump and DeSantis voters.

The biotech entrepreneur also sees a strong favorability rating of 55%, trailing only Trump (76%) and DeSantis (65%), while also posting one of the lowest unfavorable ratings at 13%.

Ramaswamy also dominated the list of how likely voters were of hearing something positive versus negative in recent weeks.

Trump’s favorable rating of 76% decreases from 81% in last week’s poll. The unfavorable rating of 22% increased from 17% in last week’s poll.

The recent indictments against Trump probably contributed to a surge in inquiries about whether voters had encountered negative or positive information about a candidate. More people said they had heard something negative about Trump than something positive, at 48% and 34%, respectively.

Next week’s Morning Consult will show the results of what Republican voters think of Trump's fourth indictment.

The next poll will also be the last poll before the first Republican primary debate, which could begin to show changes among the top candidates.

On Aug. 23, the first Republican primary debate will be shown on Fox News, a unit of Fox Corporation FOXFOXA and livestreamed on Rumble Inc RUM. Trump is expected to skip the first debate of Republican candidates.

Photo: Shutterstock

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

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