Among likely GOP primary voters, the former president is commanding 54% support and leads his nearest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by a whopping 37 percentage points. His other challengers, including his onetime running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence, are all polling at low single digits.
Trump outperformed other candidates by large margins in nearly every single demographic polled. DeSantis especially floundered among the GOP’s most influential demographics, earning only 9% support among voters 65 and older. Even if all other candidates dropped out, the poll found, Trump would still be poised to beat DeSantis 62 to 31.
Monday’s poll further cements the results of previous ones. Last week, a Monmouth University poll found that nearly 7 in 10 GOP voters believe Trump is either “definitely” or “probably” the party’s strongest candidate to unseat President Joe Biden.
Trump’s success in the polls comes despite his legal troubles. In March, a Manhattan grand jury indicted him over a $130,000 hush money payment made to the porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleges the two had an affair, shortly before the 2016 election. Then, last month, a federal grand jury indicted Trump after an investigation found he took highly classified documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago resort and residence in Florida.
Monday’s poll comes about three weeks ahead of the first Republican debate in Milwaukee and about six months out from the Iowa Republican caucuses.
