A new survey suggests former President Donald Trump is the only Republican candidate who can defeat Joe Biden and retake the White House in 2024. Conducted on behalf of the Democracy Institute, a center-right think tank based in Washington, D.C., the survey of 1,500 likely voters found that Trump leads Biden 49 to 45 percent in a head-to-head general election matchup. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would lose to Biden, 47 to 43 percent.
In addition to revealing the potential strength of a Trump presidential candidacy, the Democracy Institute survey found 67 percent of voters think Joe Biden is too old to continue serving as President. Fifty-six percent of respondents also say they believe President Biden is corrupt.
The Democracy Institute survey echoes other Republican primary polls that show former President Trump holding a near-insurmountable lead over the rest of the candidates. Trump currently holds 60 percent of the vote, while Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy edges out Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for second place, each at 13 percent and 12 percent respectively.
Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign suffered another negative news cycle over the past week. The pro-DeSantis SuperPAC’s pollster WPA Intelligence was caught trying to pass off anti-Trump op-ed in Newsweek without disclosing that the firm is connected to the DeSantis campaign. Billionaire mega-donor Ken Griffin, an early supporter of DeSantis, blasted the ‘unclear’ campaign and said he would be sitting on the sidelines for the rest of the primary. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign announced it had double the DeSantis campaign’s pledge voter support for the Iowa caucus, despite being outspent in the state by the Florida Governor 5-to-1.