Trump widens lead over DeSantis to 37 points in new poll

Former President Trump has expanded his lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to 37 points, according to a new Morning Consult poll.

The poll, released on Tuesday, found that 58 percent of potential GOP primary voter respondents said they would support the former president, compared to the 21 percent who said they would back the Florida governor.

The 37-point difference between the two marks Trump’s largest lead over DeSantis since Morning Consult began polling on the hypothetical GOP primary match-up in December. Though widely considered the former president’s biggest competition for the Republican nomination, DeSantis has yet to officially launch a 2024 bid.

Former Vice President Mike Pence sits in a distant third, with 7 percent support among GOP primary voters. Pence has recently indicated that his decision on a potential White House bid would come within a matter of weeks.

The only other current or potential GOP candidates to breach 1 percent are former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) — all of whom sit at 3 percent.

While Haley and Ramaswamy have both announced their campaigns, Cheney has remained largely quiet on her 2024 plans. After losing her primary in August 2022, Cheney suggested that she “thinking about” a potential White House run.

In a hypothetical matchup against President Biden, Trump trails the president by 1 point, while DeSantis sits 4 points behind, the poll found. Biden officially announced his reelection bid on Tuesday after months of indicating that he planned to run again.

The Morning Consult poll was conducted April 21-23 among 3,640 potential Republican primary voters and had a margin of error of 1 to 2 percentage points. The general election matchup results were based on 5,000 registered voters and had a margin of error of 1 percentage point.