Former President Trump has a comfortable lead over GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis among likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers, according to a new poll.
An NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll released early Monday found that 42 percent of likely Republican caucus participants in Iowa listed Trump as their first choice, giving the former president a 23- points ahead of DeSantis, who was chosen by 19 percent.
NBC News noted that Trump’s lead was the widest in a Republican caucus poll since former President George W. Bush’s lead in 2000.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott (SC) came in third place with 9 percent support in the new survey, followed by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence, who each received 6 percent. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie received 5 percent support, conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy received 4 percent, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum received 2 percent and former Rep. Will Hurd received 1 percent.
No other candidate received more than 1 percent support.
However, the poll also found that Iowa Republicans are still actively considering candidates other than Trump.
Twenty percent of likely GOP caucus goers listed DeSantis as their second choice, with an additional 22 percent saying they were still actively considering the Florida governor. Fifteen percent said Scott was their second choice, with 29 percent saying they were actively considering the South Carolina Republican.
Additionally, 52 percent of likely Republican caucus attendees said they have not yet decided who to support and that they may be convinced to support another candidate.
The results come as GOP presidential hopefuls prepare for the first Republican debate in the 2024 primaries, set for Wednesday. Trump said Sunday he would not attend the debate, citing his large lead in national polls as the main reason.
The new poll was conducted between August 13-17 of 406 Iowa voters likely to attend the 2024 Republican caucus and has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.
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