Trump has already shattered the lead DeSantis seemingly held in polling: Monmouth
- In December 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led all listed Republican candidates in a Monmouth University poll.
- At the time, DeSantis had 39% support compared to President Donald Trump's 26%.
Former President Donald Trump has blown past Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in polling in recent months, shattering the lead held by the leader of the Sunshine State, according to a recent Monmouth University poll.
The Monmouth University poll was conducted between May 18-24, mostly before DeSantis officially declared to run for president on the evening of May 24th in a glitchy ordeal on Twitter Spaces alongside Elon Musk and David Sacks.
Monmouth's tracking poll is held in high esteem — the pollster enjoys an 'A' rating according to FiveThirtyEight — and its tracking of Trump's rise is consistent with other recent polling into the state of the GOP primary.
In May, according to the poll of 655 Republican and Republican-leaning voters, 43% said they wanted to see Trump as the Republican presidential nominee in 2024 while just 19% said the same about DeSantis.
This ratio of voters wasn't so heavy in favor of the former president, indeed, it wasn't even always in favor of Trump.
In December 2022, DeSantis was the leading candidate among Republican and Republican-leaning respondents to Monmouth University's poll, drawing in 39% support to Trump's 26%. By February 2023, the men were tied in Monmouth's poll at 33% support a piece, and by March 2023 Trump's numbers were up to 41%, and DeSantis' down to 27%.
Generally, it isn't ideal for a candidate to lose support over the course of their campaign's roll out.
But in the months following the December poll, support for DeSantis has become harder to come by in the polls, as Trump's campaign has gained more and more steam since he declared for office in November. While DeSantis took his time to announce his run for president, Trump picked up a bevy of GOP endorsements including more than 50 representatives, 11 senators, and two governors.
Among the House members who've endorsed Trump include several from Florida's congressional delegation, like Rep. Byron Donalds and Rep. Doug Steube, who recently said DeSantis has been threatening to primary members of Congress who don't endorse him.
Compared to Trump's haul, DeSantis has acquired a pittance of endorsements: just five from the House of Representatives.
DeSantis' slide in the polls also coincides with his gubernatorial fight with Disney and after he signed several controversial bills, such as one restricting abortion services to 6 weeks of gestation and a slew of bills that restrict the lives of transgender Floridians.