Trump holds 39% lead among GOP voters nationwide: poll

The former president has seen his support among GOP voters increase over the past six months, while most of his challengers have either remainded stagnant or lost ground.

According to the poll, which was conducted by Morning Consult between July 7 and 9 among over 3,000 potential Republican primary voters, Trump currently sits comfortably in the lead at 59 percent.

With 17 percent, DeSantis is in second place, having lost nearly half of his support since December 2022, when he polled at 30 percent. The Florida governor is followed by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who is sneaking up on DeSantis at 8 percent, and Mike Pence at 7 percent.

The remaining candidates, including former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, are all polling at 3 percent or less.

When asked who they would pick as their second choice, 39 percent of Trump fans said they'd back DeSantis for the nomination, while 42 percent of DeSantis supporters said they opt for the former president.

Both Trump and DeSantis maintain a high favorability among Republican voters, at 74 and 66 percent, respectively. The candidate with the highest unfavorable score was Chris Christie, at 46 percent.

In a hypothetical matchup between a Republican and Joe Biden, the poll found that the president still held a lead of 1 percent against Trump, and 5 percent against DeSantis.

Trump has been able to take events that would typically reduce a candidate's support, such as being criminally indicted, and use them to his advantage. Each time charges were announced against him, his support actually grew.

"Every time I get a subpoena, you know my polls go up," he said during a rally in Iowa.