Nearly 61% of likely GOP primary voters say they favor former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, while 12.1% say they back his closet rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to a Victory Insights poll.
Here are how the rest of the candidates fare in the survey before Wednesday's Republican debate in Milwaukee:
- 5.9% say they favor former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
- 3.7% say they back entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
- 3.5% say they support former Vice President Mike Pence.
- No other candidate had at least 2% support.
- 7.6% say they are undecided.
"This is Donald Trump's race to lose," read the poll report. "With three in five GOP voters already saying they're backing Trump, and his most serious challenger barely holding on to double-digit support, the former president is in an excellent position.
"Assuming Trump doesn't participate in the first RNC-sanctioned debate next week, the candidates on stage won't really be fighting for the nomination — they'll be fighting for second place."
The poll, conducted Aug. 15-17, surveyed 825 likely Republican primary voters. The margin of error is plus/minus 3.5%.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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