A new poll shows that 61.5% of Republican primary voters in Kentucky favor former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2024 matchup for the presidency, far outdoing his nearest potential competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who got 22.6% in the poll.
"Trump holds a base among those with a high school degree or less, 86% of whom plan to vote for him in 2024, and those with vocational or technical school degrees at 72%," said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, which conducted the poll with Fox 56 in Lexington, Ky.
"DeSantis makes up ground among voters with a college degree, trailing Trump by 10 points, 33% to 43%," Kimball added. "Trump leads by a larger 25-point margin among those with a postgraduate degree, 50% to 25%.”
Trump also held the poll lead over DeSantis when respondents were broken down by age group, with Trump getting 54.6% of the voters ages 18-49, compared to 27.4% for DeSantis. Among voters over 50, Trump netted 66% to DeSantis' 20%.
Other potential or declared candidates for the 2024 race only came in with single-digit results:
- Former Vice President Mike Pence, 4.1%.
- Former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, 4.0%.
- Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, 1.1%.
- Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. 0.7%.
- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, 0.6%.
- New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, 0.3%.
- Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, 0.1%.
The poll also revealed that the felony charges against Trump in New York City did not make much difference about whether his supporters will continue to back him, with 48.1% of likely GOP primary voters saying the charges make "no difference" when it comes to their likelihood to support him, and 45.8% said the indictment makes them "more likely" to support him.
The Kentucky results mirrored those in Georgia, where a new poll by the University of Georgia's School of Public & International Affairs showed 51% of likely Republican primary voters said they support former Trump, while 30% support Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The FOX 56/Emerson College poll was conducted April 10-11, with a sample of 900 "very likely" Republican Primary Voters. It carried a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.
The data sets were weighted by gender, age, and education based on 2023 turnout modeling, which is based on US Census parameters, and Kentucky voter registration and voter turnout data.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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