After the second Republican Party primary debate, it has become increasingly clear the GOP presidential nomination is former President Donald Trump's to lose.
Another poll shows the 2024 presidential election might be his to win, too.
Trump is tied with President Joe Biden at 43% in a hypothetical matchup in the latest Morning Consult Poll released this week.
Trump's standing among GOP voters has been steady and dominant for a long time, but even Democrat (53%) and independent (63%) voter majorities say it is likely Trump will win the GOP primary. Those figures are up 7 and 8 points since the first debate among those registered voters, respectively, according to the pollster.
Not only do potential GOP primary voters side with Trump by 48 points over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the rest of the field, but 61% say Trump has the best chance of beating President Joe Biden.
That matches his overall support in the GOP primary field, according to the poll:
- Trump 61%
- DeSantis 13%
- South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley 7%
- Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy 7%
- Former Vice President Mike Pence 5%
- Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie 3%
- Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., 1%
- North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum 1%
- Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson 0%
Trump outperforms DeSantis against Biden, too, drawing 4 more points in support their head-to-heads. DeSantis trails Biden by 3 points 42%-39%.
Much of Trump's big lead is attributable to the lack of strength of a runner-up choice. Ramaswamy had surged to challenge DeSantis for that position after the first debate, but now that bump has gone from Ramaswamy to Haley.
"Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy’s backing has fallen from an 11% high a month ago to 7%, matching former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's level of support," according to pollster Eli Yokley. "This aligns with a shift in the kind of buzz that's breaking through to the GOP's electorate about the two candidates, with Ramaswamy's trending more negatively and Haley's trending more positively."
Morning Consult polled 3,587 potential Republican primary voters Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 with a margin of error of plus/minus 2 percentage points. No methodology was provided for the hypothetical general election tests.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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