Former President Donald Trump holds a 28-point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis among Republican voters in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, according to a new Rasmussen Reports survey.
Trump earns 58% support among Republican voters and DeSantis 30% in a choice between the two men, Rasmussen Reports found in a poll asking likely voters questions involving the Florida governor.
Despite DeSantis trailing Trump, 70% of Republican voters have a favorable impression of the governor, including 37% with a very favorable opinion.
Among all likely voters, 49% view DeSantis favorably, including 25% who have a very favorable impression of him. A total of 42% view DeSantis unfavorably, including 27% with a very unfavorable opinion, Rasmussen Reports said.
Asked about a possible general election head-to-head matchup between DeSantis and President Joe Biden, likely voters gave each candidate 44% support. Biden gets 75% of Democrats and DeSantis gets 73% of Republicans. DeSantis leads 46%-38% among unaffiliated voters.
Biden has a slight edge (43%-42%) among women voters, while DeSantis wins men 46%-44%.
DeSantis earns support from 51% of white voters, 19% of Black voters, and 36% of other minorities, while Biden gets 40% of whites, 65% of Blacks, and 44% of other minorities.
Among likely voters, 48% believe it's likely DeSantis will win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, including 12% who think it's very likely. Meanwhile, 42% say it's unlikely DeSantis will head the GOP ticket, including 15% who consider it not at all likely.
A total of 54% of Republicans, 43% of Democrats, and 47% of unaffiliated voters believe it's at least somewhat likely DeSantis will win the GOP nomination. More Democrats (16%) than Republicans (10%) say a DeSantis nomination is very likely.
Rasmussen Reports found that among all likely voters who say they would choose DeSantis over Trump as the GOP 2024 nominee, 40% would choose Biden over DeSantis in the general election.
DeSantis gets favorable ratings from more men voters (53%) than women voters (45%), but women are more likely to think DeSantis has a chance to win the 2024 Republican nomination.
DeSantis announced his was running for president last week.
The Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,012 U.S. likely voters was conducted May 30-June 1. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.