A survey conducted by Fox News found that in the three weeks since the first Republican presidential primary debate, former President Trump has widened his lead.
Despite not participating in the August GOP debate hosted by Fox News, Trump’s support has strengthened, and his margin as the Republican front-runner has increased, Fox reported.
“Unless something changes, this is Trump’s race to lose,” said Daron Shaw, a Republican pollster for Fox News.
The survey found that 60 percent of Republican primary voters support Trump, which is up from 53 percent in Fox’s survey conducted before the August debate.
“Some of Trump’s biggest gains come from women (+10), voters under age 45 (+9), white evangelicals (+8) and white men without a college degree (+8),” the survey found.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis saw a decline in support since the debate. The survey found support for DeSantis, who has generally been running second to Trump in polls, fell from 16 percent to 13 percent. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy held his third-place slot at 11 percent.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley won 5 percent, while former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) both won 3 percent. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie received 2 percent.
When voters were asked to name their second choice if Trump exited the race, polling showed a tight contest between DeSantis and Ramaswamy, with each hovering at 30 percent support in that scenario.
Voters who said they would “definitely” support Trump increased since June, the survey found, rising from 58 percent of supporters to 68 percent. Ramaswamy and Haley also saw increased support in this category.
Christie garnered the most negative reaction from GOP voters; 53 percent said they would never support him.
“Support for Trump is so strong in the Republican primary that any signs of growth among his rivals also spurs backlash among Trump loyalists,” said Chris Anderson, a Democrat. “It’s increasingly difficult to see a winning pathway out of primary for anyone not named Trump.”
President Biden widened his lead in the Democratic presidential primary, too. He increased his support from 64 percent in August to 71 percent in the new Fox poll.
The next Republican debate is Sept. 27 and will be hosted by the Fox Business Network.
—Updated Friday at 4:27 p.m.