Donald Trump holds strong lead in 2024 GOP primary poll

While 67 per cent of Republicans polled think that Trump should run again, 47 per cent say they would vote for him in a primary

Former President Donald Trump holds a strong lead in a new poll of a possible 2024 Republican presidential primary field.

A survey by Morning Consult has shown that most Republican voters want Mr Trump to run for the presidency for the third time, but that among the group that would rather he stay out of the race the top candidates are former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

More than two-thirds – 67 per cent – of GOP voters say Mr Trump should run again, according to the Morning Consult/Politico poll, which found that 29 per cent of Republicans say Mr Trump should stay out of the race.

The share of Republicans who hold a favourable view of Mr Trump is even higher – 82 per cent, while 17 per cent have an unfavourable view of the former president. Some Republicans like Mr Trump, but still don’t think he should run again.

Among the voters who think Mr Trump should leave the 2024 race to other candidates, 26 per cent prefer that Mr Pence receive the nod and 20 per cent believe Mr DeSantis should be the nominee.

While 67 per cent of Republicans polled think that Mr Trump should run again, 47 per cent say they would vote for him in a primary. That’s close to the average of 50 per cent he has received in four primary polls since his November election loss to President Joe Biden.

The other options included in the poll were Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, Missouri Sen Josh Hawley, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, South Dakota Gov Kristi Noem, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Florida Sen Rick Scott and South Carolina Sen Tim Scott. All of them got at most one per cent support from GOP voters.

The poll included the responses from 1,999 registered voters and was conducted between 8 and 11 October. The margin of error was two percentage points.