Former President Donald Trump continued to lead the field of Republican presidential candidates ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Here's a look at the latest.
What Happened: Trump dominated the political headlines with an ongoing civil fraud lawsuit from the state of New York against The Trump Organization and the decision to skip the third Republican primary debate.
Trump and several of his children took to the witness stand in recent weeks in the highly publicized trial. Despite multiple courtroom appearances and a calendar full of court dates alongside his 2024 presidential campaign, Republican voters appeared to be unphased by Trump's legal challenges.
The former president maintained strong backing from Republican voters and was the odds-on favorite to win the 2024 GOP nomination, barring any future setbacks or surges from rival opponents, based on election polls and betting odds.
The latest Morning Consult poll of GOP voters showed Trump with a comfortable lead over his Republican opponents.
Here's a look at who Republican voters would vote for today, with the percentage from last week in parentheses.
Donald Trump: 66% (64%)
Ron DeSantis: 13% (14%)
Nikki Haley: 9% (9%)
Vivek Ramaswamy: 7% (6%)
Chris Christie: 3% (2%)
Doug Burgum: 1% (1%)
Asa Hutchinson: 1% (1%)
In the latest poll, Trump had a 53-point lead, which marks a record since polling began in December. Over the past 10 weeks, Trump has had a lead of at least 43 points each week over his Republican competitors. In recent weeks, including last week, Trump's lead has been 50 points or higher.
Related Link: 2024 Presidential Election Betting Odds: Trump The Favorite, Newsom Gains, Haley Soars Higher, Ramaswamy Drops
Why It's Important: The 66% support for Trump marked a new high for the former president since polling began in December.
Trump gained two points from the previous poll, which came after another Republican candidate (Tim Scott) dropped out of the election race.
DeSantis ranked second in the latest poll with 13% of support from Republican voters, losing one percentage point.
Nikki Haley ranked third for a sixth straight week with 9% of support. The gap between Haley and DeSantis continued to get smaller.
Vivek Ramaswamy ranked fourth in the latest poll, gaining one percentage point.
Chris Christie, who ranked a distance fifth, gained one percentage point to hit 3% of the vote in the latest poll.
Prior to dropping out of the race, Scott typically had around 2% of support from Republican voters polled by Morning Consult. Scott's support appeared to have shifted to Trump, Ramaswamy and Christie, according to the latest results.
The poll also found Trump to have strong secondary support from candidates who select another candidate first. Trump received 33% of support as the second option for anyone who picked another candidate first.
Those selecting Trump first were most likely to select DeSantis (39%), Ramaswamy (25%) or Haley (11%) as their second option in the race.
Trump ranked first in the poll with a favorable rating of 78% and had an unfavorable rating of 20%.
DeSantis and Haley ranked best for the amount of positive news items heard about the candidate compared to the amount of negative news items heard, but both candidates had over 50% of those polled say they heard nothing about the two candidates.
The 2024 election will be held on Nov. 5.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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