Former President Donald Trump skipped out on appearing at the first and second Republican primary debates, but that doesn’t seem to be slowing down support for his GOP nomination in the 2024 presidential election.
What Happened: Trump has been met with multiple indictments and federal charges in 2023 and has a calendar filling up with court appearances. Republican voters appeared to be unphased by Trump’s legal challenges.
Trump continued to see strong backing from Republican voters, which made him the current odds-on favorite to win the 2024 GOP nomination, barring any future setbacks or surges from rival opponents.
The latest Morning Consult poll of GOP voters showed Trump at a record high for support and a huge lead over the competition.
Here’s a look at who Republican voters would vote for today, with the percentage from last week in parentheses.
- Donald Trump: 61% (61%)
- Ron DeSantis: 12% (13%)
- Vivek Ramaswamy: 9% (7%)
- Nikki Haley: 6% (7%)
- Mike Pence: 5% (5%)
- Chris Christie: 3% (3%)
- Tim Scott: 2% (1%)
In the latest poll, Trump had a 49-point lead, which marked one of his biggest leads since polling began in December. Over the past seven weeks, Trump had a lead of at least 43 points each week over his Republican competitors.
Morning Consult reported a second straight week at 61 points is the highest for Trump since polling began and in the days since the poll was conducted, Trump was trending at 63 points among voters.
This marked the second poll since the second Republican primary was held and saw seven candidates speak without Trump present. The debate was broadcast on Fox Business, a unit of Fox Corporation FOXFOXA and livestreamed on Rumble Inc RUM.
Low ratings for the second debate and the strong polling numbers for Trump for a second straight week could show that the debates don’t matter as much anymore and a third debate without Trump might not resonate with voters.
Related Link: Can Donald Trump Become Speaker Of The House?
Why It’s Important: DeSantis sliding to 12% in the poll, which comes after losing two percentage points in last week’s poll, could be more bad news for the Florida governor heading into the 2024 presidential election.
Once viewed as a potential competitor to Trump, DeSantis has polled lower in recent months and is also bringing in less in fundraising money to compete with the former president.
Ramaswamy gained two percentage points, which comes after two straight weeks of declines in voter support. After hitting a high of 11% a month ago, the presidential candidate was trending the wrong way. Since moving up the poll earlier this year, Ramaswamy’s support hovered in the 8% to 10% range. The positive momentum will be closely monitored to see if it can continue going forward.
Haley dropped one percentage point after being one of the momentum gainers in recent weeks. Last week, Haley was tied for third place at 7% with Ramaswamy. The 7% total matched a high for the former South Carolina governor and came after a strong performance at the second debate.
Former Vice President Pence held steady at 5% and continues to rank in the top five Republican candidates.
Christie stayed at 3% for a second straight week.
Among voters who selected Trump first, 32% chose DeSantis as their next selection, while Ramaswamy was selected by 24% and Pence was selected by 10%.
Of voters who supported DeSantis first, 42% selected Trump as their next selection, 17% selected Ramaswamy and 15% selected Haley. Trump gained in this mark from last week when he was selected by 35% of DeSantis voters.
In the latest poll, Trump’s favorability ranks at 78% with an unfavorable rate of 20%, an improvement of one percentage point in both categories.
DeSantis gets a 64% favorable ranking, falling three points from the previous week. An unfavorable ranking of 23% also ranks poorly for the Florida governor compared to 20% in the previous poll.
Ramaswamy had a favorable ranking of 59% and an unfavorable rating of 19%, both figures improvements from the previous poll.
Haley has a favorable rating of 45% and an unfavorable rating of 22%, both getting worse from the previous poll.
Trump received the highest percentage of people hearing something positive about him at 45%, improving from 42% in last week’s poll. Thirty-eight percent said they had heard something negative about him recently. This marks three straight weeks and among the first times since mid-July that more people reported hearing something positive about Trump overhearing something negative.
Over 50% of voters said they had heard nothing positive or negative about both Ramaswamy (51%) and Haley (61%).
A third debate is scheduled for Nov. 8 and candidates will need to have 4% support in two national polls to qualify. Over the next month, the party could see more candidates drop out or voter support remain the same barring any major events.
Read Next: 2024 Presidential Election Betting Odds: Trump Now The Favorite
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