No matter what seems to happen – heading to face a fraud trial in New York, skipping the Republican primary debates, facing pushback for praising Hezbollah – Donald Trump’s lead in the GOP primary field only seems to grow more permanent.
A new Fox News poll, conducted earlier this month, shows that Mr Trump has four times the support of his nearest rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, among Republican primary voters.
Mr Trump is lapping the competition, leading with 59 per cent support among polled voters, compared with Mr DeSantis’s 13 per cent support.
Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, is the only other candidate to crack double digits, with 10 per cent support, while support for former vice president Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and US senator Tim Scott is so minimal it’s mostly swallowed by the poll’s margin of error.
But it’s been this way for months, with Mr Trump leading and the occasional shifting of second and third place in the Republican race.
What’s new in the poll is Joe Biden appears to narrowly edge out Mr Trump in a hypothetical 2024 matchup, whereas other Republican frontrunners are projected to beat the president.
Mr Biden beat Mr Trump with 49 to 48 percent support, while Mr DeSantis led Mr Biden with 49 per cent compared with 47 per cent support, and Ms Haley also had more support, topping Mr Biden’s 45 per cent with her 49 per cent hypothetical backing.
It’s the first time Mr Trump has fared worse than his competitors in the poll, according to Fox, but the 3 per cent margin of error means all the results captured in the general election analysis are essentially too close to call.
