Former President Donald Trump is lapping the field for the Republican presidential nomination, pulling nearly 40 points ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in one recent poll.
In a new Times/Siena College poll of those likely to vote in the Republican primary, Trump garnered a total of 54% of the voters for the GOP presidential nomination. Gov. DeSantis trailed Trump by 37 points, securing just 17%.
Hispanic voters were the strongest bloc for Trump, with 68% saying they would back the former president in the Republican primary. His next highest support came from white voters at 53%, then those who identified as “other” at 47%, and then black voters at 44%.
Regionally, Trump did best in the West, securing 62% of Republican respondents in the area. The Northeast came next with 57% support, then the Midwest at 52%, and the South at an even 50%.
Republican Catholics supported Trump at a higher rate than any other religion, with 63% of adherents backing him, while 53% of Republican Protestants said they would choose him. Among Republican respondents who identified their beliefs as “other,” 54% said they would vote for Trump in the primary, and 47% of those with no professed faith indicated they would vote for Trump.
The rest of the field had very poor showings.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) each secured the support of only 3% of Republican voters, while American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, a popular candidate in other polls, garnered 2%.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a prominent critic of Trump, similarly only managed to get the backing of 2% of respondents, while other hopefuls such as Gov. Doug Burgum, Asa Hutchinson, Will Hurd, Perry Johnson, and Francis Suarez were unable to get even 1%.
However, a total of 13% of potential Republican primary voters said they did not know who they would vote for yet.
On the whole, GOP voters showed a strong disdain for the direction of the country and the leadership of President Joe Biden, with 89% of respondents agreeing that the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction and 90% disapproving of Biden’s performance.
Despite Trump’s pronounced lead in the primary race, a majority of GOP voters had positive opinions of both the frontrunner and the candidate in a distant second place.
The poll found that 76% of respondents harbored favorable sentiments toward Trump, and 66% had a positive view of DeSantis.
These results echo some of the findings revealed in other recent polls, with a survey from Harvard showing Trump holding a lead over both Biden and DeSantis among independents, as reported by The Dallas Express.
