NEW POLL: Trump CRUSHES DeSantis By More Than Double — But They Both Lose to Biden

Former President Donald Trump crushes Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) by more than double in a new poll — but both men lose to President Joe Biden in head-to-head matchups, albeit narrowly.

While DeSantis has yet to announce his presidential run formally, Trump has been training his fire on DeSantis for months as the Florida governor cemented his status as the only candidate in the GOP field with any shot at contending with Trump.

But after some gains in the fall and early winter, DeSantis has been getting dominated by Trump in more recent polls, including Morning Consult’s GOP primary tracker — which now shows Trump more than doubling DeSantis at 54 percent to just 26 percent for DeSantis.

Among the “Key Takeaways” from Morning Consult’s Eli Yokley is the fact that DeSantis ties his lowest level of support since the poll began in December, and some bad news for former VP Mike Pence:

Trump Continues to Lead DeSantis: As Trump awaits potential indictment on charges related to a 2016 hush money scheme with adult-film star Stormy Daniels, he has posted one of his largest polling leads in the 2024 Republican primary. The latest survey shows 54% of potential primary voters support the former president, compared with 26% who are backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tying his expected opponent’s lowest level of support since tracking began in December.

…

Pence’s Popularity Takes Hit: Former Vice President Mike Pence’s favorability rating among potential primary voters declined from 60% to 55% during a week that featured news coverage of his condemnation of Trump’s behavior surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Over the same time period, the share who said they’d recently heard something negative about Pence, who is polling at 7% in the nominating race, increased from 15% to 24%.

The poll also shows DeSantis and Trump losing to Biden, which Yokley notes continues a negative trend for the Florida governor:

A hypothetical head-to-head matchup shows Biden with a 3-percentage-point lead over Trump and a 2-point lead over DeSantis. Since early this month, DeSantis has held no advantage over Biden, a contrast with prior surveys conducted since December that would from time to time give the Floridian a modest lead.

The poll was taken March 17-19, which partially encompasses the time since Trump began to rally supporters to protest his reportedly impending arrest with social media posts urging them to ‘TAKE OUR NATION BACK!’ in an early-morning all-caps rant over reports he claims say he ” WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK.”.

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