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Republican presidential candidates will head to California on Wednesday for the second GOP debate of the 2024 presidential election cycle, but President Donald Trump is already reigning supreme in the Golden State.
According to the most recent GOP primary polling in California, President Trump holds a whopping 39-point lead over Republican runner-up and Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., via a poll from the University of Berkeley/Los Angeles Times.
Before the Berkeley/Times poll, Trump was shown to be leading in California in a 2024 primary among GOP voters by 26 points in a Public Policy Institute of California survey that was conducted in June.
Over the summer, President Trump has exponentially increased his lead in key battleground states ahead of the rapidly approaching Republican presidential primary race next year.
On Wednesday, presidential hopefuls like Gov. DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., will take the stage at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, but President Trump is opting to travel to Michigan instead.
While Republican debaters will trade barbs and spar onstage, Trump will deliver a primetime speech in Clinton Township, Michigan, to striking United Auto Workers amidst the ongoing UAW crisis.
Trump has strongly been pursuing an endorsement from the UAW, urging them to “TURN YOUR BACK ON THIS CORRUPT AND HIGHLY INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT” as Joe Biden planned to travel to Michigan on Tuesday to visit the picket lines.
Trump is politically dominating with conservatives in California. Politico writer Christopher Cadelago observed this week: “Enduring loyalty to Trump from millions of Republicans in the state combined with new delegate rules imposed by his loyalists are tilting the scales dramatically in Trump’s favor. It’s a rude awakening for the rest of the field as they descend on the state for Wednesday’s debate.”
President Donald Trump leads the GOP primary field not only in California but on a nationwide scale. As reported by RSBN, Trump has earned 59 percent of Republican voters’ support ahead of the 2024 primary, per Morning Consult.