A new Yahoo! News/YouGov poll reveals that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a modest edge over former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical one-on-one matchup for the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nomination — even among those who identify as Trump supporters.
The overall survey chronicled the responses of 1,538 U.S. adults over a five-day period (Jan. 12-16) and covered the voting preferences of Republicans, Democrats, and independents.
However, the Trump versus DeSantis poll question pertained only to those voting in a Republican primary. The results showed 45% sided with DeSantis and 42% preferred Trump.
In the age breakdown, both Trump and DeSantis prevailed in two categories. Trump led in the 18-29 and 30-44 age ranges; Desantis led in the 45-64 and 65-plus age ranges. In Trump's victories, he twice enjoyed a 14-point cushion over DeSantis. However, the Florida governor posted the biggest blowout of this subgroup, winning the 65-and-over group by 22 percentage points.
When breaking down sex/gender, DeSantis (49%) defeated Trump (38%) among men of all ages. However, Trump (47%) posted a win with women of all ages, compared to DeSantis' popularity with females (40%).
For the racial-composition breakdown, which included only white and Hispanic respondents, DeSantis (46%) clipped Trump (42%) by a handful of percentage points. Conversely, Trump (48%) enjoyed an advantage among Hispanic voters, compared to DeSantis (31%).
And from an income perspective, DeSantis cruised to easy victories among those earning between $50,000 to $100,000 per year and those with annual salaries exceeding $100,000.
The 2024 Republican primary likely won't start off as an exclusive Trump versus DeSantis battle.
That said, DeSantis (37%) still prevailed over Trump (36%) when factoring in other Republicans joining an open primary field.
The other candidates include: Former Vice President Mike Pence (5%), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (3%), former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney (2%), and three others — former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — all at 1%.
The Yahoo/YouGov survey also tracked the job-approval rating of President Joe Biden — with 43% of respondents favoring the president's work and 49% not being satisfied with Biden's first term in office.
One of the biggest black marks against Biden involved the state of the U.S. economy, with the president (36%) having an underwater approval rating of -18 points in this category.
The Yahoo/YouGov poll has a margin-of-error rate of 3 percentage points.
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