Trump Leads GOP Primary Race by 46 Points, Meaning Game Over for DeSantis

In the new Wall Street Journal poll released on Saturday, former President Donald Trump has emerged as the dominant frontrunner

Nik Richie

Sep 2, 2023

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In the new Wall Street Journal poll released on Saturday, former President Donald Trump has emerged as the dominant frontrunner in the GOP primary field, garnering the support of an impressive 59 percent of surveyed voters. The poll, which employed a mix of telephone and web surveys and included 600 Republican primary voters, was conducted at the end of August.

According to the WSJ poll, Trump enjoys a commanding 46-point lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. This stark contrast to DeSantis’s 13-point deficit in a poll conducted back in April, prior to his official candidacy announcement, underscores the governor’s challenges in winning over Trump’s base and reflects his recent struggles in polling across various regions.

In terms of favorability, DeSantis has also seen a dip since the April survey, with the proportion of respondents holding a favorable view of him dropping from 84 percent to 70 percent. Trump, while maintaining strong support, experienced a slight decrease in favorability, shifting from 78 percent to 75 percent between the two polls.

Regarding a hypothetical 2024 presidential matchup between Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden, the poll indicates a dead heat at 46 percent each, with 8 percent of respondents indicating they were undecided. This data is based on a larger sample of 1,500 registered voters. When third-party candidates are introduced into the equation, Trump leads Biden 40 percent to 39 percent, with lesser-known third-party options garnering single-digit support and 17 percent of respondents remaining undecided.

Beyond the top two contenders in the GOP primary, the poll reflects that 8 percent of respondents favored former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, while biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy received 5 percent of support. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie secured 3 percent of the vote, and former Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) both garnered 2 percent.

Notably, Haley, Ramaswamy, and Christie saw slight increases in their support since the April survey, albeit by marginal percentages.

The poll also shed light on respondents’ perceptions of the four indictments against Trump, which encompass charges related to efforts to overturn the election and the improper storage of classified documents. A substantial majority of those surveyed viewed these cases as politically motivated. Over 60 percent of respondents believed that each case lacked merit and was driven by political motivations.