Ron DeSantis Beats Every Republican in Hypothetical 2024 Matchup if Trump Doesn't Run
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis currently leads all Republican candidates in a hypothetical 2024 GOP primary that excludes former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll.
The poll, which was conducted by Harris/Harvard CAPS, asked respondents who they'd vote for in a hypothetical 2024 Republican primary election if Trump does not run. According to the poll, DeSantis led all other candidates as 30 percent of respondents said they'd vote for him.
Following behind DeSantis was former Vice President Mike Pence, who received 25 percent of support from respondents, according to the poll. Among other possible candidates, 13 percent said they'd vote for Texas Senator Ted Cruz, 8 percent said they'd vote for Florida Senator Marco Rubio, 7 percent sided with former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley and 10 percent said they would support another candidate.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott both received support from 4 percent of respondents, according to the poll.
DeSantis has not announced a bid for the 2024 presidency and when asked about potentially running for president by Fox News' Sean Hannity, the Florida governor said, "I'm not considering anything beyond doing my job."
"We've got a lot of stuff going on in Florida," DeSantis said during the interview, where he also announced that he was planning to seek another term as Florida's governor in 2022.
In September, DeSantis was asked by reporters if he would consider a run for the presidency, to which he responded by saying, "All the speculation about me is purely manufactured. I just do my job...I hear all this stuff and honestly, it's nonsense. So, you know, I don't really know what to say to rumors."
Newsweek was directed to DeSantis's comments from September after reaching out to his office for comment.
Despite DeSantis's past comments, a separate poll from Echelon Insights in November found similar results. According to the poll, 26 percent of respondents said they'd vote for DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary if Trump doesn't run.
Another poll from Echelon Insights in September found 22 percent siding with DeSantis if Trump isn't on the 2024 Republican primary ticket, while 15 percent sided with Pence.
When the poll asked the same question but included Trump, 67 percent of respondents said they'd vote for the former president if he decided to run again. According to the poll, 9 percent said they'd vote for Pence if Trump runs in 2024 and 8 percent sided with DeSantis. The rest of the potential candidates all received single-digit percentages, according to the poll.
Trump has also not officially announced that he will run for president again but has hinted at the idea on several occasions. During an interview with Fox Business News' Maria Bartiromo in April, Trump said that he was "100 percent" thinking about running again.
"And we will, I think, be very successful," Trump added during the interview.
