Former President Donald Trump has grown his lead over Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in Pennsylvania’s Republican presidential primary by 12 points since April, according to a Franklin & Marshall College poll, which also finds him to be neck and neck with President Joe Biden in a hypothetical general election.
The survey, published on Thursday ahead of Trump’s arrest and processing in Fulton County Georgia, shows that 39 percent of Republicans back Trump for the nomination in the Keystone State, as his support is virtually unchanged from April when he registered at 40 percent.
🚨 PENNSYLVANIA 2024 POLL
PRES:
Biden: 42% (+2)
Trump: 40%
Someone else: 16%
——
GOP PRES
Trump 39% (+18)
DeSantis 21%
Ramaswamy 9%
Scott 6%
Haley 5%
Pence 5%
——
Net Favs:
Shapiro: +30%
Casey: +9%
Biden: -18%
Trump: -30%
——@FandMPoll | RVs | 8/09-20 https://t.co/XqY8ea0YJk pic.twitter.com/Fd4bYpGMLj— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) August 24, 2023
DeSantis, whose support has dwindled by 13 percent in four months, registers at 21 percent. In April, he was within six points of the 45th president, but now he is 18 points back.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy lands in third place with nine percent, followed by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) with six percent, as they seem to pick up supporters DeSantis has lost. Neither candidate was included in the college’s previous survey.
Former Vice President Mike Pence and former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) tie at five percent, followed by former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) at three percent. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) round out the poll with one percent of backing apiece.
The poll also asked respondents who their second choice candidates would be, finding that DeSantis leads the way in that regard with 27 percent. Trump comes in second with 14 percent, while Scott and Ramaswamy each garner 12 percent. From there, nine percent see Pence as their backup plan, while seven percent see Christie and five percent see Haley in that light.
In a hypothetical general election race between Biden and Trump, Biden leads 42 percent to 40 percent. As this is within the 4.5 percent margin of error (MOE), the rivals are statistically tied. Another sixteen percent prefer someone else, and two percent are undecided. Both candidates have gained support since April, when Biden led 36 percent to 35 percent. At that time, the share of voters who wanted another candidate registered at 23 percent.
Franklin & Marshall College sampled 723 registered voters in Pennsylvania, including 297 Republicans, from August 9-20. The MOE is plus or minus 4.5 percent for the full sample and seven percent for the GOP primary aspect of the survey.
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