TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is now trailing behind former President Donald Trump by only nine percentage points in a theoretical head-to-head matchup for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
A new Yahoo News poll results show the only single-digit gap between two possible rivals in any major national survey to date, according to Yahoo News.
The poll shows answers to the question, "Who would you rather see as the Republican nominee for President in 2024? - Trump or DeSantis 2024." It found 45 percent of Republican voters chose Trump while 31 percent chose DeSantis.
Of the Independent voters, 41 percent said they'd like to see the Florida governor in the big chair compared to the 39 percent voting for Trump. Seventeen percent of voters say they're not sure who they'd vote for.
Yahoo says Republicans trying to find a voting alternative to Trump are focusing on DeSantis. The 46th governor of the Sunshine State is favored to win in November, the news outlet reports.
A new Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey showed DeSantis is the early favorite for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination if Trump decides not to run again, according to The Hill.
In that hypothetical primary race, DeSantis takes 36 percent of the support among the people participating in the survey. His closest rival? Former Vice President Mike Pence.
The Hill reports that findings suggest DeSantis has more room to grow his support among voters nationally.
“Gov. Ron DeSantis is a rare politician in America right now with more voters who like him than dislike him and he is gaining strength in the Republican primary, positioning him to win if Trump does not run and possibly taking him on if he does run,” Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, told The Hill.
We will have to wait and see what really happens in November. For now, these matchups remain hypothetical. Trump has not formally announced whether he's running again, and DeSantis is focused on his gubernatorial reelection campaign.
