Donald Trump is not the best presidential candidate to run against President Joe Biden should the sitting president decide to run for reelection in 2024. A new Morning Consult Political Intelligence Survey finds that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis fits that bill with some significant demographics.
However, both Republicans would lose to President Biden:
‘Trump would lose to Biden by three points in a head-to-head matchup, while Biden and DeSantis were tied. Republicans have negative opinions of the ex-president versus 9% for the Florida governor.’
In this hypothetical race, the Florida governor appeared to be more electable than the previous president, however:
‘Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis looks to be more electable than former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical matchup against President Joe Biden, an advantage that appears to be driven in part because U.S. voters are less likely to have an opinion about him.’
The latest Morning Consult Poll found that DeSantis led Trump among voters who were plus 45 years old, white voters, university-educated voters, and women in certain instances.
Trump beat President Biden among those voters aged 45 and over by one point. And the Florida Governor won over Biden by eight points. White voters chose the Florida governor by 12 points and Trump by seven points.
University-educated voters chose Biden over either one of the Republican men. But DeSantis beat Trump by 10 points among that demographic and eight points by white university graduates.
The governor won over the ex-president in a diverse demographic by a small margin, according to The Forbes Magazine:
‘[W]omen, Democrats, Independents, Hispanic voters, white voters who aren’t college graduates, 2020 Biden voters and those who voted Democratic in the November midterms.’
Men preferred both GOP men to President Biden by a margin of four points. Trump won over DeSantis among voters under 45 years old and Black voters. But those in the last two demographics preferred President Biden over the Republicans.
In the poll, 41 percent viewed the governor favorably while 42 percent viewed Trump favorably. But 45 percent viewed President Biden favorably.
Trump was more popular among the GOP voters, at 82 percent versus DeSantis at 72 percent. The ex-president’s disapproval rate was higher than the governor’s, 55 percent to 35 percent. The Morning Consult Poll also found:
 ‘DeSantis so far has a higher net favorability rating in 10 battleground states than either Trump or Biden: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. Approximately a quarter of voters in those states reported having no opinion yet on DeSantis, however—except for Florida—so it’s likely his favorability could change as his profile continues to rise and more voters develop stronger opinions of him.’
The Morning Consult Poll interviewed 6,000 random registered voters between February 3-5.
Gloria Christie is a political journalist for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Find her here on Facebook. Or at Three White Lions, her book written in her own unique style with a twist of humor on Amazon Kindle Vella and the Gloria Christie Three White Lions podcast on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in progress).
