More single state polling shows a potential favorite son candidate cutting into Ron DeSantis’ support in a 2024 Republican Presidential Primary.
The Washington Examiner reports on a fresh Maryland survey from Co/efficient that imparts an increasingly familiar message. When DeSantis is joined in the field by another candidate, he struggles against former President Donald Trump.
The pollsters tested DeSantis and Trump against former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, and in a three-way battle, the former President came out ahead. Trump took 33% support, six points ahead of DeSantis’ 27%, with Hogan in third place with 18% support.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley drew 6% support, with other potential candidates in low single digits.
Hogan has waded into the fray against DeSantis, offering a criticism of the Parental Rights in Education bill as “big government and authoritarian” and a less “important issue” than other matters.
“I’m a small government, commonsense conservative, and to me, it sounds like big government and authoritarian. ‘You have to agree with me, and I’ll tell you what you can and can’t do.’ But it’s an issue. It’s not the most important issue. Most people are worried about the economy, inflation, and they’re concerned about crime, but education is one of the things that we’ve got to talk about,” Hogan said on Meet the Press Sunday.
Hogan had litigated similar arguments last year, saying “the bill was kind of absurd and not something that would have happened in our state,” and making the case that DeSantis bullied businesses, including Disney for objecting to the Parental Rights bill, as well as “cruise lines” and “local schools.”
It wasn’t all bad news for DeSantis in the Maryland poll. In a one-on-one matchup against Trump, DeSantis was up 39% to 35%, with 26% undecided. One-on-one against Hogan, DeSantis prevailed 59% to 26%.
But there is little likelihood that just two candidates will run in the upcoming GOP Primaries. Recent polls from Kansas and South Carolina show Trump up over a crowded field by double digits, with DeSantis a distant second.
The co/efficient poll of 1,007 likely GOP Primary voters was conducted Sunday and Monday with a margin of error of +/- 3.58 percentage points.
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