Donald Trump's VP Picks Emerge Among His Supporters

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the favorite among Donald Trump supporters to be the former president's 2024 running mate, with support for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as VP rising, according to a new poll.

A survey conducted exclusively for Newsweek by Redfield and Wilton Strategies showed 19 percent of people who said they would vote for Trump in 2024 would prefer Haley, who is also running for the presidency, to eventually be his running mate, up from 5 percent in a September poll.

The latest poll shows DeSantis is Trump supporters' preferred choice with 25 percent. However, such a move is highly unlikely given the ongoing animosity between the pair that broke out amid talk of DeSantis' White House ambitions, putting the relationship between the former allies at inconsolable levels.

Fellow Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy comes in third place among Trump supporters with 16 percent—the same as September's survey—followed by Arizona Senate hopeful Kari Lake in fourth with 8 percent.

The jump in support of Haley for vice president lines up with the recent momentum her 2024 bid has gained in the wake of a number of strong GOP primary debate performances, with suggestions that she, rather than DeSantis, is now Trump's main rival in the primary that the former president is expected to easily win.

Danielle Vinson, a professor of politics and international affairs at Furman University in South Carolina, said she can't imagine that Haley, who served in the Trump administration as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., would want to be Trump's running mate.

"She's criticized him occasionally, and he doesn't like that she's running against him. I would expect he would want someone more loyal," Vinson told Newsweek.

"And from Haley's perspective, it would make almost no sense. She is not someone that I can envision sitting quietly in meetings and supporting some of Trump's more chaotic or constitutionally questionable plans and actions. Even if she doesn't win the nomination in 2024, she has positioned herself well for a future run. If she were to serve as Trump's VP, she will own everything he does, and she will not have his support at the end of it—like with Mike Pence.

"The only reason for her to take the job is if she thinks Congress will impeach him, and she'd get to be president."

Trump has given no real indication whom he might pick. There have been suggestions that Trump might want to choose a female running mate to sweep up women voters he lost in the last election, or a person of color to broaden the Republican ticket's appeal.

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem are two other potential female picks mentioned for Trump, but they received 1 percent and 3 percent, respectively, of backing from Trump supporters in the survey.

Other names who have been cited include Ramaswamy and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, the first Black elected senator from the South since Reconstruction who dropped out of the presidential race in November but was not a listed candidate in the poll.

One person who has also been named as a potential Trump running mate is former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, with 5 percent of Trump supporters naming him as their preferred choice.

However, Carlson poured cold water on the idea, telling SiriusXM's Megyn Kelly that such a move is "just so unimaginable."

"That's not how my brain works. I've never done anything like that. I can't imagine spending time with politicians," Carlson said.

The Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey was conducted December 8 among 1,500 registered voters.