Trump Widens Lead Over Flagging DeSantis Among Likely GOP Voters

Donald Trump widened his lead among likely Republican primary voters as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whose campaign has struggled to gain traction, fell further behind the former president in a new poll.

(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump widened his lead among likely Republican primary voters as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whose campaign has struggled to gain traction, fell further behind the former president in a new poll.

Trump registered healthy margins among every demographic group in a Siena College/New York Times poll released Monday, with 54% of likely GOP voters backing Trump, compared to 17% for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Trump’s 37 percentage point lead over DeSantis, who has consistently placed a distant second, is the largest so far.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott each registered 3%.

Trump has led in every poll of Republican primary voters taken since mid-March tracked by Real Clear Politics, but his lead has grown from single digits, while DeSantis has dropped in recent polls amid a campaign reboot.

DeSantis is planning a major economic speech in New Hampshire Monday as part of his effort to turn around his falling poll numbers.

In the Siena poll, Trump led among both men and women; every age group; every income bracket; voters who live in rural areas, suburbs and the city; those who live in the Midwest, Northeast, South and West; those who went to college and those who didn’t; and liberal, moderate and conservative Republicans.

He was weakest among White college graduates, who backed him 37% over DeSantis at 25%; voters aged 30-44, who backed him 41% to DeSantis at 28%; and liberal/moderate Republicans, who backed him 35% to DeSantis at 17%.

The poll of 932 likely Republican primary voters was conducted July 23-27, finishing just as a superseding indictment was filed in a case involving Trump’s handling of classified documents. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.96 percentage points.

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