Support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the 2024 Republican primary continues to slide as former President Donald Trump dominates, according to May’s Harvard-Harris survey.
The survey, which comes close to the rumored launch of DeSantis’ presidential campaign, shows support for Trump continues to grow, with a majority of Republican voters, 58%, backing him.
DeSantis comes in an extremely distant second, 42 points behind with 16%. This reflects a four-point drop from the 20% he got in the last survey.
Trump’s 58%, meanwhile, reflects a three-point increase for the former president.
No other challenger – or potential challenger – comes close either. Anti-revival businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley are 12 points behind DeSantis with 4% support apiece. Sen. Ted Cruz is falling behind with three percent support, and all of the remaining potential challengers have received support of one percent or less.
Trump also easily beats DeSantis in a head-to-head matchup, leading 65% to the governor’s 35%.
Harvard/Harris poll: Trump posts biggest lead yet over DeSantis
• Asset — 58% (+42)
• DeSantis: 16%
• Ramaswamy: 4%
• Pennies: 4%
• Haley—4%
• T. Scott: 1%
• Hutchison: 1%2 ways:
• Asset — 65% (+30)
• DeSantis: 35%15/05-17 | VRhttps://t.co/SFFYM6RDOh pic.twitter.com/tVyHkJ5FwI
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) May 19, 2023
The survey was conducted May 17-18, 2023 among 2,004 registered voters and coincides with the latest Morning Consult survey, which also found DeSantis was declining in a national primary game. Their latest survey shows DeSantis slipping into the teens with 18% support. Trump is 43 points ahead with 61%:
Morning polling poll: Trump posts biggest lead yet over DeSantis
Trump — 61% (+43)
DeSantis — 18%
Pence — 6%
Haley—4%
Ramaswamy — 4%
Cheney—2%
Abbot – 1%
T. Scott — 1%
Hutchinson—1%May 12-14 | 3,571 registered votershttps://t.co/dQctcc1IMp pic.twitter.com/C2zq0HPAPK
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) May 16, 2023
Trump continued to criticize DeSantis as rumors swirled that he could announce a presidential candidacy as soon as next week.
“As I said, Ron is not eligible. I’m ahead of Crooked Joe Biden by, at least, 7 and Ron DeSanctimonious is losing by 4. His ‘campaign’ was a total disaster! Trump exclaimed on Truth Social, sharing the results of a recent poll.
“When the Ron DeSanctimonious facts come out, you’ll see he’s better than most Democratic governors, but very average at best against Republican governors,” Trump said in another post.
“How about the fact that he had the third highest death toll of any state, as governor, on the Chinese virus. Even Cuomo did better, #4. He closed everything, EVEN ITS BEACHES. Other Republican governments have not. Look at Disney’s MESS, it could have been an easy settlement, but no, he wanted the Fake News to show how badass he is. He’s not!” Trump exclaimed:
Breitbart