Trump widens lead in 2024 primary race: Quinnipiac poll

Former President Trump widened his lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to 14 points in a new Quinnipiac University poll of 15 current and potential candidates for the GOP presidential nomination. 

The poll, released Wednesday, showed Trump in first with 46 percent support from Republicans and Republican-leaning voters, followed by DeSantis with 32 percent. That’s a notable increase in Trump’s lead from Quinnipiac’s poll last month that showed him leading DeSantis by 6 points, 42 percent to 36 percent. 

In this month’s poll, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley came in third with 5 percent, and no other candidate surpassed 3 percent. 

Trump also leads DeSantis by 11 points in a head-to-head match-up, 51 percent to 40 percent. 

DeSantis has consistently been seen as the top potential challenger to Trump for the Republican nomination and has placed in at least second in most hypothetical primary polls. But the former president has maintained his position in first place in most polls too. 

Trump led DeSantis by just 4 points among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in a CNN poll released this week. 

Trump announced his run for reelection in 2024 in November, shortly after the midterm elections. DeSantis has been the subject of rumors about his potential presidential ambitions, but he has not directly addressed the possibility of him running. 

“DeSantis might be the buzz in the GOP conversation, but for now Trump is seeing no erosion and, in fact, enjoys a bump in his lead in the Republican primary,” Tim Malloy, a polling analyst for Quinnipiac, said in a release for the poll. 

The poll also showed President Biden leads Trump in a hypothetical match-up among registered voters by 4 points, 49 percent to 45 percent. Biden only leads DeSantis in the hypothetical match-up by 1 point, 47 percent to 46 percent. 

The poll was conducted among 1,795 U.S. adults from March 9 to 13. The margin of error was 2.3 points. Pollsters included 1,635 self-identified registered voters, and these polls had a margin of error of 2.4 points. 

The margin of error for the 677 Republicans and Republican-leaning voters was 3.8 percent.