Trump widens lead over DeSantis to 33 points in new survey

Former President Trump widened his lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in a hypothetical Republican primary match-up to 33 points, according to a new poll. 

A Morning Consult poll found Trump with 56 percent of the vote among a group of current and potential GOP challengers for the nomination and DeSantis in second with 23 percent. This marks Trump’s widest lead in the poll since Morning Consult started tracking the hypothetical primary in December. 

The most recent poll found Vice President Pence came in third with 7 percent, followed by former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley with 4 percent and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) with 3 percent. 

Almost half of respondents who said they supported Trump would support DeSantis as their second choice, while 41 percent of those who prefer DeSantis said they would support Trump as their second option. 

Pollsters found Trump and DeSantis performing similarly in a hypothetical match-up against President Biden, with Trump trailing by 1 point and DeSantis behind by 2 points. 

Trump and DeSantis are both viewed overwhelmingly favorably among Republicans, with 78 percent of potential GOP primary voters viewing Trump positively and 69 percent viewing DeSantis positively. Pollsters have also found no increase in negative feelings toward Trump since he was indicted on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in New York. 

Trump is one of a few candidates in the race, while DeSantis has not announced whether he will run but is rumored to be planning to.

The poll also found that the announcement from former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) last week that he would join the race does not appear to have had a major effect on the polling. Almost 7 in 10 potential Republican primary voters said they did not hear much about the announcement, and only 1 percent said they would support him. 

The poll was conducted from April 7-9 among 3,608 potential Republican primary voters. The margin of error was 2 points.