Trump Overwhelmingly Leads Republican Presidential Candidates... 46% Gap with 2nd Place

2nd Place DeSantis, Other Candidates Have Single-Digit Support Rates

Former President Donald Trump continues to show overwhelming support within the Republican Party, significantly outpacing his competitors by a wide margin.

The Wall Street Journal conducted a survey from August 24 to 30 among 600 Republican voters regarding the presidential candidates. The results showed that Trump's approval rating rose by 11 percentage points compared to April, reaching 59%.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump [Photo by Yonhap News]

Despite facing trials in four different courts on 13 felony charges?including hush money payments related to sexual misconduct, illegal possession of classified national documents, and attempts to manipulate the 2020 election results?Trump's support base appears to be consolidating.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the second-place Republican candidate, saw his support drop to 13%, trailing Trump by 46 percentage points. Compared to April’s poll results (Trump 48%, DeSantis 24%), the gap between the top two candidates has nearly doubled, indicating that if the Republican presidential primary narrows down to two candidates, no one is likely to surpass Trump.

All other candidates remained in single-digit support. Nikki Haley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and 'rookie' Vivek Ramaswamy, who made a strong impression at the Republican Party’s first presidential debate in late August, garnered 8% and 5% support respectively. Following the debate, The New York Times (NYT) described Ramaswamy as “the candidate who most embodied the Trump spirit in both style and substance, despite never having worked in government.” Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who have increased their attacks on Trump, received 3% and 1% support respectively. Mike Pence, former Vice President with extensive political experience as a senator and Governor of Indiana, struggled with 2% support. Senator Tim Scott also remained stagnant with 2% support.

According to the WSJ, 60% of Republican voters believe that the charges against Trump are politically motivated and lack merit. Seventy-eight percent viewed Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results as a legitimate attempt to ensure an accurate outcome. Notably, 48% of respondents said the indictments increased their likelihood of voting for Trump in the 2024 election, while only 16% said their likelihood decreased.

On August 23rd (local time), at the first Republican presidential primary debate in the United States, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley engaged in a heated exchange with former Roivant Sciences CEO Vivek Ramaswamy.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The WSJ survey predicted that next year’s presidential race would mirror the 2020 matchup between Trump and President Joe Biden. Forty percent of respondents supported Trump, 39% backed Biden, and 17% remained undecided.

Meanwhile, Trump was indicted on August 14 for exerting pressure to overturn Georgia’s election results in the 2020 presidential race. On August 24, he voluntarily appeared before prosecutors and underwent procedures including a mugshot photo. Although an arraignment was scheduled for September 6, Trump waived the arraignment, causing the Georgia case to proceed directly to trial. Prosecutors requested the court to set the first trial date for October 23, but Trump’s legal team has opposed this.

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