WSJ Poll: Trump Leads GOP Primary Field by 46 Points As DeSantis Drops

The former US president holds a 46-point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to the WSJ, which polled 600 Republican primary voters at the end of August through telephone and web surveys, Politico reported.

The survey found DeSantis down 13 points to Trump in April, before he launched his candidacy, highlighting the governor’s difficulties in attempts to sway Trump voters and reflecting his recent polling troubles elsewhere.

DeSantis’ favorability also fell since the April survey, with the share of respondents that reported a favorable view of him dropping from 84 percent to 70 percent. Trump’s favorability fell from 78 percent to 75 percent between the same two polls.

If the 2024 presidential contest were held today between Trump and Joe Biden, the poll found the two even at 46 percent, with 8 percent saying they were undecided, among a larger survey pool of 1,500 registered voters. Adding in the choice of third-party candidates, the survey has Trump leading Biden 40 percent-39 percent, with the lesser-known third parties collecting single-digit support and 17 percent saying they were undecided.

In the GOP primary beyond the top two candidates, 8 percent of respondents picked former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, 5 percent picked biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, 3 percent chose former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 2 percent selected former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) garnered 2 percent.

Haley, Ramaswamy and Christie all grew their share of supporters since the April survey, albeit by single digits.

The poll also found that a large majority of respondents believe Trump’s four indictments, charges ranging from his efforts to overturn the election to improperly storing classified documents, are politically motivated. They all responded that they were aware of the cases, and more than 60 percent said that each case was meritless and politically motivated.