Trump leads DeSantis by 46 points in new poll

Despite his mounting legal battles, former President Trump has clocked in a whopping 46 point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his main 2024 GOP rival, according to a new national poll.

A CBS News poll released Sunday shows Trump has 62 percent of the likely GOP primary vote, with DeSantis trailing at 16 percent. 

The rest of the presidential candidates fall within single digits, with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy with 7 percent support, former Vice President Mike Pence with 5 percent, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) with 3 percent, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with 2 percent and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson with 1 percent. 

A majority, or 61 percent, of the likely GOP primary voters also believe Trump has the best chance at beating President Biden, compared with 35 percent for DeSantis, a decrease from June when 50 percent said DeSantis “definitely would” beat the incumbent president. 

The poll suggests Trump is protected from attacks from his opponents, finding around 9 in 10, or 91 percent, of GOP primary voters would prefer the former president’s opponents focus on making the case for themselves instead of against Trump. 

Likely GOP primary voters were asked about their main concerns regarding Trump’s latest indictment in Georgia, with the majority, 71 percent, saying the indictment is politically motivated, compared with the 8 percent who said they are concerned about allegations that Trump tried to overturn the presidential election results. Fifteen percent said they share both concerns. 

The poll found almost three-quarters, or 73 percent, of Trump’s voters are those who “show support during his legal fights” and think of this as a reason for considering Trump. 

A slight majority, or 52 percent of those who voted for Trump in 2020, said Trump and members of his team “planned to stay in the presidency through legal and constitutional processes” in the days and weeks that followed the 2020 election. Twelve percent of those who voted for Trump in 2020 said he planned to remain president through “illegal and unconstitutional activities,” while 36 percent said Trump didn’t plan to stay beyond the end of his term.

As for why they are considering Trump, 99 percent of those who are or might consider the former president said things were better under Trump, while 95 percent said he “fights for people like me.” Not far behind was the 76 percent of voters supporting Trump because of their better knowledge of him compared with other candidates, and the 74 percent who said they have always supported the former president.

A majority, or 68 percent of Republican primary voters surveyed, said they believe the U.S. political system is corrupt, suggesting Trump’s supporters may perceive him as either a victim or opponent of the system, the poll found. 

The poll showed Trump-related topics appear to be reaching likely GOP primary voters the most, with 44 percent reporting hearing about Trump over economic and financial topics or social and cultural topics throughout the GOP 2024 campaign. However, 50 percent of these likely voters said the 2024 GOP campaign is “too much about Trump,” while 31 percent said it is the right amount and 19 percent said it’s not enough about the former president. 

The CBS News/YouGov poll surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,061 U.S. adult residents between Aug. 16 and Aug. 18, including 538 Republican primary voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 points for the overall sample and plus or minus 5.7 points for likely Republican primary voters.