DeSantis eats further into Trump’s lead in the polls

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has further eaten into former President Donald Trump‘s longtime lead in 2024 presidential opinion polls – with the fallout from the Mar-a-Lago dinner with Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes showing no signs of stopping.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll conducted from December 1 through 5 shows Trump receiving 35 percent support from Republican adults or independents who lean Republican. 

DeSantis is just five points behind at 30 percent, an increase following his comprehensive victory in the Florida Governor’s race and with Republicans blaming Trump for their disappointing midterm results. 

When the narrower group of registered voters was asked, DeSantis was just two points behind, with Trump at 35 percent and DeSantis at 33 percent support. 

No other Republican contender comes close, with former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley polling around 5 percent. 

The same poll found that Trump has lost some of his luster among Republicans. In June, 54 percent – a majority – held a ‘very favorable’ view of the ex-president.  Now in December, that number is 12 points lower, at 42 percent. 

It is a dire sign for Trump, who announced he was running for President a week after the ‘red wave’ failed to materialize and is still facing mounting legal battles.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (left) has further eaten into former President Donald Trump’s (right) longtime lead in 2024 presidential opinion polls

Pollsters also asked what Republican voters would do if there was a Trump-DeSantis match-up in the 2024 primaries. In the larger group of Republican and GOP-leaning independent adults, the two are tied at 42 percent. 

Among registered voters, DeSantis actually takes the lead – 47 percent to Trump’s 42 percent. 

A similar dynamic played out when survey participants were asked if it would be better to have Trump as the GOP nominee in 2024 or another GOP contentder. 

The broader group said Trump by a small margin – 44 percent to 41 percent – outside the poll’s 2.6 percent margin of error. 

Among registered voters, the option of a different Republican candidate has a slight advantage over Trump – 44 percent to 43 percent. 

Former President Donald Trump had dinner with white nationalist Nick Fuentes a week after announcing his 2024 presidential bid 

Nick Fuentes was brought to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida by disgraced rapper Kanye West, who has been spewing anti-Semitic bile for months

President Joe Biden has a narrow edge over both Republicans, Trump and DeSantis, in a theoretical 2024 general election match-up, within the survey’s margin of error. 

Against Trump, Biden gets 37 percent support to the ex-president’s 35 percent. 

A whopping 17 percent of respondents said they’d not vote. 

Among registered voters, 45 percent would go for Biden and 42 percent would select Trump. 

Biden beats DeSantis 37 percent to 35 percent. 

Again, 17 percent said they would not vote. 

Among registered voters, Biden and DeSantis are tied at 44 percent support. 

Trump’s 2024 White House bid got off to a rough start. 

The former president was largely blamed for the Republicans subpar performance in the midterms – with the GOP barely winning control of the House – after a so-called ‘red wave’ had been expected – and Democrats maintaining control of the Senate. 

Trump announced he would be a White House candidate one week later. 

Then a week after that, Trump had dinner with disgraced rapper Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes. 

And then this Tuesday, the Trump-backed Georgia Senate hopeful Herschel Walker lost his election to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.  

The former president was largely blamed for the Republicans subpar performance in the midterms – with the GOP barely winning control of the House – after a so-called ‘red wave’ had been expected – and Democrats maintaining control of the Senate