Former President Donald Trump is well behind Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis in a new poll measuring support in a hypothetical 2024 Republican primary match-up between the two in North Carolina.
Trump won the state in both 2016 and 2020. He also won the state in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, although his lead over runner-up Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) was under 3.5 percent. Now, DeSantis leads Trump by double-digits when poll respondents in this new survey were asked to make a selection from a list only including the two by name. Overall, Trump got 34.5 percent of the support, while DeSantis nabbed 56.3 percent. Both totals include portions adding just single digits to the overall figures who indicated they merely leaned towards one of the candidates. Even excluding those respondents, DeSantis still passed a simple majority of the support. Just 9.2 percent of overall participants refused to commit to either candidate even after what were apparently follow-up questions for those initially unsure.
The poll was conducted by a firm based in North Carolina known as The Differentiators. Considering that the 2024 presidential election season is only just now kind of getting started — Trump still hasn’t done much with his recently confirmed campaign, there hasn’t been a whole lot of polling done in North Carolina measuring residents’ support in the potential GOP primary field, but DeSantis has also seen positive numbers at both the national level and in other states. Recent Suffolk University polling at the national level done for USA Today also saw DeSantis ahead of Trump by over 20 percent, and polling done by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates and Impact Research recorded a 14 percent DeSantis lead, again at the national level. The governor hasn’t confirmed he will even be running for president, but the polling showing a favorable environment for a potential campaign definitely doesn’t end there.
In Florida, DeSantis — who recently won re-election by nearly 20 percent — has presided over the implementation of legislation like restrictions on abortion and limits on teaching concepts like white privilege and affirmative action, with civil penalties possible for those in violation of the eventually blocked restrictions. Trump, meanwhile, is promoting what he is calling digital trading cards — no, really. And the kicker: they cost $99 apiece! Is he that desperate for cash? The day before, Trump had promised on his alternative social media platform Truth Social he would be making what he called a major announcement — and the big reveal was digital trading cards. Is he trying to make himself a target of derision? He referred to the cards as “very much like a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting.” What a farce.
