Donald Trump's campaign team has dismissed the finding of a poll that suggests Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would be the preferred 2024 Republican candidate against Joe Biden in key swing states.
A survey from GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies shows that DeSantis, who has not confirmed he is running for president but is expected to do so soon, would beat Biden in Arizona and Pennsylvania in a hypothetical 2024 face-off by 48 to 42 percent and 45 percent to 42 percent respectively.
The poll of 500 registered voters in Arizona and Pennsylvania also showed that Trump would lose to Biden in the key states if they faced off again in 2024 by 42 to 46 percent in the Grand Canyon State and by a narrow 44 to 45 percent margin in the Keystone state.
Biden managed to flip both Pennsylvania and Arizona during his 2020 Election victory after Trump won both states in 2016.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the Mar-a-Lago Club, April 4, 2023, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump's campaign team has dismissed the finding of a poll that suggests Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would be the preferred 2024 Republican candidate against Joe Biden in key swing states. Getty Images/Alex Wong
In response, the Trump War Room Twitter account, the profile for the former president's 2024 campaign, suggested that the poll results are not reliable while attacking the company behind it.
"Public Opinion Strategies (POS) tried desperately for days to try to pitch this fake poll to other outlets. But they refused to disclose their ties to other 2024 candidates and would not release their cross tabs (data)," the Trump War Room account tweeted. "Truly a POS poll."
DeSantis has long been thought to be the biggest challenger to Trump in the GOP 2024 presidential primary.
Despite his legal difficulties, including being the first former U.S. president to be charged with a crime over falsifying business records, which he has pleaded not guilty to, Trump is still the favorite to clinch the 2024 Republican nomination.
According to FiveThirtyEight's data of national polling averages, Trump is currently beating DeSantis by 49.3 percent to 26.2 percent. The first-in-the-nation Republican presidential primary caucus in Iowa will be held in February 2024.
The results of the Public Opinion Strategies poll found 58 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of Trump, while 40 percent have a favorable view. In Pennsylvania, 56 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of Trump, compared to 40 percent who hold a favorable opinion.
In both states, a majority of voters—56 percent in Pennsylvania and 55 percent in Arizona—said they aren't likely to vote for Trump in the 2024 Election.
In comparison, 45 percent of voters in Pennsylvania and 44 percent in Arizona said they aren't likely to vote for DeSantis should he be the Republican candidate in 2024.
Newsweek has contacted Public Opinion Strategies for comment via email.
AFlockOfTySegalls on April 17th, 2023 at 11:52 UTC »
If Donald Trump can give Biden a supermajority going into 2024, I'd be thrilled.
2HandedMonster on April 17th, 2023 at 11:22 UTC »
One or two more of these and he's gonna start calling voter fraud a year and a half out
And the hillbillies will eat it up, and start turning on the people in their own communities like they already are
All for a guy who did nothing for them the first time lol, how stupid can you be
Spin_Quarkette on April 17th, 2023 at 10:54 UTC »
How many more times does the country have to tell Trump “NO”? He’s like friggin chewing gum on the bottom of the shoe! You just can’t get rid of this loser!