Former President Trump extended his lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to 33 points in a hypothetical Republican primary showdown, according to a new national poll.
A Morning Consult survey found Trump with 56% of the vote among a group of current and potential Republican hopefuls for the nomination and DeSantis in second place with 23%.
This marks Trump’s largest lead in the poll since Morning Consult began tracking the hypothetical primary in December.
The poll found that former Vice President Pence ranked third with 7%, followed by former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley with 4% and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) with 3%.
Pollsters have found no rise in negative sentiment toward Trump since he was indicted on 34 counts in New York.
DeSantis has not announced if he will run, but it is assumed that he plans to.
The poll also found that former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R)’s announcement last week that he would join the race did not appear to have had a major effect.
Nearly 7 in 10 likely Republican voters said they hadn’t heard much about the ad, and just 1% said they would support it.
The poll was conducted April 7-9 among 3,608 likely Republican voters.
The margin of error was 2 points.
