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Former President Donald Trump appears to be crushing his potential Republican rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in a number of recent polls before DeSantis has even entered the presidential race.
A new Harris/Harvard poll conducted from April 18 to 19 showed Trump leading the Florida governor by 35 points among Republican voters in a hypothetical GOP presidential primary.
Trump announced his re-election bid shortly after the 2022 midterm elections but DeSantis has not yet formally launched a presidential campaign despite speculation that he will jump into the race.
The Harris/Harvard poll found Trump with 55 percent support among GOP voters—far ahead of DeSantis on 20 percent and former Vice President Mike Pence on just 7 percent and other potential candidates recording less than 5 percent each.
That's a decline for DeSantis on the last Harris/Harvard poll conducted from March 22 to 23, where he recorded 24 percent support among Republican voters compared to Trump's 50 percent.
In a head-to-head match up between Trump and DeSantis, the former president enjoyed 61 percent support to the governor's 39 percent among Republican voters—a decline since the last poll when DeSantis won 44 percent to Trump's 56 percent in a hypothetical match up.
Trump's standing in the polls does not appear to have been damaged by his appearance in a New York City courtroom earlier this month, where he pleaded not guilty to 34 charges related to his alleged hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
DeSantis is also significantly behind in other recent polls amid signs of a worsening position in polling.
A Premise poll conducted from April 14 to 17 showed Trump with 57 percent support among 573 registered Republican voters, while DeSantis won just 35 percent—giving the former president a 22-point lead in a head-to-head match up.
Trump's position in that poll had improved against DeSantis since the previous Premise poll from March 31 to April 3, when he had an 18-point lead among 581 registered Republican voters.
The same poll showed Trump leading when other potential Republican presidential candidates were included. The former president won 53 percent support to DeSantis' 28 percent, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley won 5 percent and Pence had 5 percent. Several other candidates recorded less than 5 percent support.
Other recent polling, collated by poll tracker FiveThirtyEight, paints a similar picture. Trump enjoyed a 22-point lead over DeSantis—53 percent to 31 percent—in a YouGov/The Economist poll conducted from April 15 to 18.
In a YouGov/Yahoo News poll from April 14 to 17, Trump led DeSantis with 52 percent to the governor's 36 percent in a head-to-head match up—a lead of 16 points.
Trump's lead over DeSantis in that poll increased to 24 points when other candidates were included. The former president garnered 49 percent, DeSantis 25 percent, Haley 6 percent and other options less than 5 percent.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump's and DeSantis' teams via email for comment.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more