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| Photo Credit: AP. |
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is maintaining a double-digit lead over former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical poll in several key states, according to a conservative poll.
In a poll
conducted by WPA Intelligence on behalf of Club for Growth Action, Mr. DeSantis
had a steady three digits lead over Trump in New Hampshire primary, Georgia
primary, Florida primary as well as in the Iowa caucus.
In Georgia
DeSantis leads Trump by 55% compared to the 35% for the former president.
DeSantis also had 56% in Florida while Trump had 30%.
401 potential New Hampshire Republican primary voter as well as 508 likely Iowa Republican caucus voters and 1,044 potential Florida Republican primary voters took part in the poll.
Another 843 potential Georgia Republican primary voters
were also polled. The polling was conducted from November 11 through November
13 with a 4.4% marginal error for Iowa, 3% marginal error for Florida, 3.4%
marginal error for Georgia and 4.9% for New Hampshire.
Last Monday
Mr. Trump said he would make a 2024 “big announcement” on Tuesday November 15
at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Florida.
At a
campaign night in Vandalia, Ohio 24 hours before the nation’s midterms, Mr.
Trump said:
“I’m going
to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump
said.
Trump’s
announcement was received with thundering cheers from his supporters who
gathered for the rally as he campaigned for GOP Senate candidate JD Vance.
But it
appears the former president’s support is weaning especially among his staunch
Republican supporters after the president’s abysmal performance in the just
concluded midterms. Several candidates endorsed by the president fared badly in
the elections, blowing a potential red wave into the winds.
Most
Republicans blamed Mr. Trump for the party’s woes as well as its inability to
take over the Senate which the Democrats have won convincingly with 50 seats
while the Republicans hold 49 seats.
Even if the Republicans
win the Georgia run off scheduled for next month, the Democrats will maintain
control of the Senate by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris tie breaking
vote.
Mr. DeSantis
is yet to announce his presidential ambitions for the 2024 race. President Joe
Biden who is yet to make a formal announcement has said he will seek reelection
in 2024.
In July former
acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told CNN Republicans “don’t
need” Trump “anymore”.
Mulvaney
said he would be “hard pressed” to vote for Trump in 2024 and that he believes
the House January 6 committee has badly wounded Trump politically, a move which
clears the way for other Republicans to enter the 2024 presidential primary
race.
"I'm
one of those Republicans who hope the former president, Trump, doesn't
run," he said.
"In all
fairness, we don't need him anymore. He changed our party. We have a lot of
folks, a new generation, Ron Desantis, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Tim Scott,
Nikki Haley, go down the list, of folks who can give us the same policies, the
same energy, the same defense of the middle class, that Donald Trump gave us
without the baggage," Mulvaney said.
The former
White House aide who was also a onetime Republican congressman for South
Carolina said his former boss was the only GOP presidential candidate that
President Joe Biden or whomever the Democrats nominate in 2024 can beat.
"I
mean, face it, as a Republican, I'm sitting here tonight thinking to myself if
the election were today and Joe Biden was the nominee for the Democrats, or
Kamala Harris, or Gavin Newsom, there's probably only one mainstream Republican
who can lose. And that's Donald Trump," Mulvaney said.