Trump Shocks Other GOP Contenders With Strong Showing

According to the most recent Morning Consult poll, former President Donald Trump has been more popular over the previous week and has seen a slight increase in favorability.

In this week’s poll, more Republican primary voters (78%) had a favorable opinion of Trump than did so last week (76%) following the indictment. From 22 percent to 20 percent, the proportion of those who have an unfavorable opinion of Trump declined by two points.

The approval rating for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stayed essentially unchanged, at 66 percent, down from 67 percent last week and 68 percent the week before. 19% of people had a negative opinion of the governor, which is almost as many as have a negative opinion of Trump. However, it is a decrease from the 22% who stated the same thing last week. The governor of Florida currently has a five-point rise in his negative rating from the 14% who did so in March.

Mike Pence, the former vice president, had a decline in favorability; it fell from 54 percent the previous week to 49 percent this week. Additionally, his unfavorable opinion score increased by six points this week, rising from 36 percent to 42 percent.

Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, also had a substantial decline this week, with only 44% of people finding her to be favorable. That represents a ten-point decline from the 54% who stated the same thing the previous week. Additionally, she has a lower unfavorable rating (22%) than both Trump and DeSantis.

Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and the anti-woke entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy both exhibit favorability ratings over water, but a sizable percentage of respondents (29% and 33%, respectively) continue to say they weren’t familiar with either of them.

Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, has the greatest unfavorable rating of any contender, with 46% of respondents saying this, up 10 points from last week’s 36%. Only 28% of people had a favorable opinion.

The Morning Consult said that Christie is “growing increasingly unpopular as he criticizes Trump.”

Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, is unfavorably seen by almost half of prospective GOP primary voters (46 percent), up from 39 percent prior to his candidacy launch on June 6. Christie has gained attention for his criticism of Trump. Over the previous few weeks, his support has increased from 1% to 3%, placing him on par with Haley, Scott, and Ramaswamy.

Notably, Christie promoted himself as a candidate who can win over independent votes while labeling Trump a “failed leader” last week.

“Is Donald Trump’s whining, complaining, and personalizing everything really necessary? He didn’t give a damn about Americans.” He was quoted as saying during an interview on America’s Newsroom, “He’s putting himself first.”

791 likely Republican primary voters were polled between June 15 and June 18, 2023, for that particular component of the study. Its margin of error is +/- 4.4 percent.