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With the first contests of the 2024 GOP primaries on the horizon, President Donald Trump continues to expand his nationwide lead over his Republican rivals.
In a recent Harvard-Harris poll of 2,851 Registered Voters conducted from Nov. 16 to 17, Trump emerges as the dominant force in nationwide polling, leading four other primary candidates with 67 percent total support.
The survey also highlighted a significant shift in support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose numbers slipped into the single digits since October.
DeSantis placed second to Trump, taking just nine percent of support among those surveyed, and former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley placed a close third with only eight percent.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy placed fourth with just five percent, while the former N.J. Gov. Chris Christie came in last with three percent support.
In a head-to-head matchup, Trump further expanded his lead against both DeSantis and Haley.
Trump received three-quarters of Republican support in a matchup with only Ron DeSantis (75 percent to 25 percent) and 81 percent to 19 percent against Nikki Haley.
According to the new poll, President Trump has a strong support nationwide, leading not only his GOP counterparts but also in head-to-head matchups against Democrats.
Against Joe Biden, Trump led his opponent by six points (53 percent to 47 percent) ahead of the general election.
The poll also introduced a scenario involving a third-party run from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who only withdrew from the Democrat primaries months ago to launch an independent bid for office.
In a three-way race with Trump, Biden, and RFK Jr., the poll showed the independent candidate receiving 21 percent of the vote. If Kennedy were to receive this vote share on Election Day, he would have taken a higher percentage of support than Ross Perot in 1992, who many say spoiled the election for former President George H.W. Bush.
Kennedy would also surpass the vote percentage of all third-party candidates since President Theodore Roosevelt’s third-party bid for president in 1912.
Additionally, the independent candidate’s favorability ratings showed him to be the most liked politician in the nation, with 52 percent of Americans holding a positive view of Kennedy.
Trump placed a close second behind Kennedy with a favorability rating of 51 percent.
Biden meanwhile placed in fourth behind businessman Elon Musk, with a 46 percent favorability score, while Kamala Harris placed in fifth with 45 percent.
