Trump leading GOP challengers by 50 points in new Michigan poll

Former President Trump continues to hold a wide lead over his 2024 GOP rivals in Michigan, a new poll found.

The latest Monmouth University Poll-Washington Post survey, published Thursday, shows 63 percent of likely Republican voters in Michigan said they would vote for Trump in the state’s primary.

The former president’s support is particularly strong — 81 percent — among those who describe themselves as supporters of “MAGA,” a movement based on Trump’s catchphrase “Make America Great Again.”

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tied for second place in the poll, each earning 13 percent of support from likely Republican voters in the state. Among non-MAGA supporters, 36 percent still said they would vote for the former president, followed by 24 percent who would vote for Haley and 18 percent who would back DeSantis.

The new survey is just the latest to show Haley and DeSantis are battling it out for the second-place spot. A poll released earlier this month by NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ found 11 percent of Republican voters selected DeSantis as their first choice, and 10 percent picked Haley.

Likely Republican voters in Michigan also appeared to be the most enthusiastic for Trump compared to the other candidates.

About 3 in 4 voters said they would be “enthusiastic” or “satisfied” if the former president clinched the nomination. Around 60 percent said they would feel the same about DeSantis, and half of the respondents said the same about Haley, according to the survey.

“The most likely voters to turn out in Michigan’s Republican primary seem to be the Trump enthusiasts. This probably includes many who were lukewarm on him eight years ago but are now fully behind his comeback bid,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, in a statement. “The other candidates just aren’t lighting the same kind of spark.”

Just 5 percent of respondents in the new poll said they would vote for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and another 3 percent said they would vote for biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

The poll included responses from 606 potential Republican primary voters in the state surveyed from Dec. 7-11 and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.