Which GOP Candidate Has the Highest Favorability Rating Amongst Republican Voters? Hint: It’s Not Trump Or DeSantis

CNN Data Analyst Harry Enten opened his Monday appearance on CNN This Morning openly laughing at a Trump Social Media post about Tucker Carlson but then offered a compelling analysis of the current state of the GOP primary.

What got Enten laughing was former President Donald Trump flirting with an interview with the former Fox News host on the night of the first GOP Primary — which Fox News will host, and Trump has notably suggested he will skip.

But then Entent took to which candidates have so far qualified to participate, which includes Trump, Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy.  Mike Pence and Doug Burgum are both close but not quite there yet.

Enten then looked at favorability ratings among Republican voters and revealed which candidate had the highest number, and lo and behold, it’s the US Senator from South Carolina, Tim Scott, who launched his campaign on a remarkably positive message amid the dire warnings of his competitors. Enten said:

So this to me is one of the most interesting questions, right? We’ve been talking about a two way race. You know, in terms of Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. But what happens as these other candidates become better known and Tim Scott is one of those because I want you to take a look here. This is the favorable ratings for Scott, Trump and DeSantis among Republican voters who hold a viewpoint of all three. Right. We’ve eliminated those without an opinion. Look who has the highest favorable rating amongst this group. It’s Tim Scott at 89%. That’s higher than Donald Trump’s 82%. And Ron DeSantis is 81%. And I think the question is, will Scott move up in the polls? The better known he becomes. I want you to take a look here. This is Iowa and New Hampshire, fresh polling out over the last week. Look, Donald Trump still well ahead in both these states, but look who rounds out the top three. It’s Tim Scott who’s moving up in the polls. So this is the question, will this two way race become a three way race, especially as a lot of Republicans perhaps have soured a little bit on Ron DeSantis in this.

Enten drew his numbers from a recent Quinnipiac Poll, which you can read at CNN.com.

Watch above via CNN.