Don leads Ron in GOP poll
Former President Donald Trump leads Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 15 points in a new Republican presidential poll, with newly announced candidate Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence trailing far behind.
Trump won the support of 43% of those surveyed in the Fox News poll, with DeSantis scoring 28%.
Using his derisive nickname for DeSantis, Trump boasted that the survey showed him “Crushing [Ron] DeSanctimonious” but complained that Fox was not giving enough air time to its own poll.
“FoxNews is promoting Ron DeSanctus so hard and so much that there’s not much time left for Real News,” Trump wrote on his social media site.
Haley and Pence scored 7% apiece in the poll.
Several other potential candidates clocked in with 1% or 2% backing.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has been talking up his chances as a more moderate alternative, did not even register in the poll.
The poll also included a one-on-one matchup of Trump and Haley, the only two major announced candidates. Trump won 66% to 24%.
Polls of the Republican race have been inconsistent, some showing Trump far ahead and others giving a solid lead to DeSantis, who has yet to officially declare he’s running.
Almost all of the surveys have agreed that Trump and DeSantis are for now far and away the front-runners, with several months to go before the race starts in earnest when a debate is planned for August.
Republicans are sticking with a traditional primary voting schedule, with Iowa’s caucus starting things off followed by the first primary election in New Hampshire.