Trump, Who Refused Debate, Holds Firm at No.1 in Approval Ratings... 39%p Gap with DeSantis Maintained

Former U.S. President Donald Trump remains far ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is in second place, despite skipping the Republican presidential candidate debate, according to a poll.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In the Reuters-Ipsos poll released on the 25th (local time), 52% of Republican respondents supported former President Trump. This is 39 percentage points higher than the 13% who supported Governor DeSantis. Earlier this month, Trump secured a 47% approval rating in a poll conducted by the same organization.

The results indicate that the Republican presidential candidate debate aired on the 23rd did not significantly impact the overall competition. Trump stated that he felt no need to participate in the debate since he was already far ahead in the polls, and instead released a pre-recorded interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson online at the same time as the debate.

Although Governor DeSantis did not close the gap with former President Trump, his image appears to have improved through the debate. About half of the Republican respondents who participated in the poll said they were more likely to support DeSantis after the debate.

Four out of ten Republicans said they were more likely to support entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy or former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. However, only 5% of Republicans currently support Ramaswamy, and Haley’s support stands at just 4%, figures similar to those before the debate. Former Vice President Mike Pence secured 6% support, but only one in five Republican respondents who watched the debate said their willingness to support him increased.

Among the Republican supporters surveyed, 59% watched the debate or followed news coverage, while the remaining 49% did not see or hear about it at all. In a hypothetical matchup between President Joe Biden and former President Trump, 38% of all respondents chose Trump, while 32% chose Biden.

The poll was conducted online over two days with 1,004 U.S. adults participating, including 347 Republican respondents.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.