One of Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis' strongest pitches for the GOP primary nomination to date, staking claim to strength in key battlegrounds, is not holding water in Georgia of all places, a state bordering his Tallahassee home.
Former President Donald Trump leads DeSantis by 8 points (40%-32%) in the latest Landmark Communications poll of likely Georgia Republican primary voters — and, notably, Trump antagonist but still popular Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp is polling single digits in his own state.
This poll result pours some cold water on DeSantis' argument made to Newsmax earlier this month he is polling strong in key battleground states "where you need to win to be able to win the Electoral College."
While 32% is a good number for DeSantis compared to other states that heavily favor Trump — like an overwhelming 70% support in the much larger state of New York — DeSantis still trails Trump by 8 points in Georgia.
Even more surprising, perhaps, is the weakness of Kemp's potential 2024 GOP presidential primary prospects, which saw him get just 7% support in his own state that elected him governor over Democrat Stacey Abrams twice.
"While people have a very favorable impression of Brian Kemp in Georgia, it's not yet translating into votes for president," Landmark Communications President Mark Rountree wrote in his polling analysis, noting 73% of likely GOP primary voters view him favorably compared to just 12% view him unfavorably. "People simply don't see Kemp as a candidate yet in a presidential capacity."
DeSantis is even more favorable than Kemp or Trump in the state, but the plurality of likely GOP voters still want Trump as their nominee.
Trump and Kemp have been at odds after the then-president sought to have Kemp call a special session in the state to debate election integrity during the 2020 presidential election challenge.
DeSantis has sounded like he was ready to try to capitalize on the argument he could beat President Joe Biden in the battleground states Trump contested in that past election, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The full results of the Georgia GOP primary poll:
- Trump 40.1%.
- DeSantis 32.3%.
- Kemp 7.1%.
- Undecided/No opinion 6.2%.
- Former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley 5.9%.
- Former VP Mike Pence 2.4%.
- Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie 2.2%.
- Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy 2.0%.
- Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., 1.8%.
Landmark Communications conducted the statewide poll of 800 randomly selected likely Republican presidential preference voters May 14, and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.