DeSantis tops Trump in hypothetical 2024 match-up: poll

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has overtaken former President Trump in a hypothetical 2024 match-up for the GOP presidential nomination, according to a new Yahoo News-YouGov poll.  

The nationwide poll, released Thursday, shows DeSantis with a 5-point lead over Trump, with 47 percent of registered voters backing the governor compared to 42 percent for the former president.

The latest results, taken in the first few days of December, are a stark turn from a mid-October poll that found Trump ahead by 9 percentage points, with 45 percent to DeSantis’s 36 percent. 

Trump announced his third run for the White House just a week after the November midterm elections, following disappointing results for the Republican Party and losses from some of Trump’s own high-profile endorsees.  

DeSantis coasted to reelection during the midterms, adding fuel to speculation of a 2024 presidential run, though he hasn’t announced his candidacy.

The latest Yahoo News-YouGov poll adds to growing evidence that many in the Republican Party are turning away from the former president and looking toward a new generation of GOP leaders. 

In October, 49 percent of Republican voters said they wanted to see Trump as the nominee over “someone else,” but that figure dropped to 41 percent in December — and the vague “someone else” saw a 6-point boost.

Conducted from Dec. 1 to 5, the poll surveyed 1,653 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.