(TheConservativeTimes.org) – Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida), who has been the strongest challenger to former president Donald Trump on the campaign trail, has been perceived as faltering. This perception has led to speculation of more Republicans entering the ring for the presidential primary. From a glitchy launch on Twitter to a campaign advert that LGBTQ Republicans have slammed as homophobic, his campaign is not looking good.
While Trump has a formidable lead, legal problems weaken his position for a general election faceoff. Those issues have given an opportunity for more challengers to enter the race, such as Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Virginia) or Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Georgia).
Recent aggregate polling from FiveThirtyEight shows Trump with 52.2%, DeSantis with 23.3%, former Vice President Pence with 6.4%, and all other candidates at less than 5%. With about a 30-point advantage on DeSantis, Trump will likely be the nominee to face President Biden in 2024, especially since a divided field would allow for Trump as the frontrunner to win more delegates ahead of the Republican National Convention.
As Republican strategists eye potential alternatives to Trump, the former president continues to dominate the Republican field, and a matchup of him against President Biden will be close.
An Emerson poll from June 22nd shows that, on the Democratic side, President Joe Biden is sitting at a job disapproval of 51% compared to approval of 41%. With a 56-point advantage over Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr., President Biden and Vice President Harris are on a course to be the Democratic ticket.
In a general election scenario of Joe Biden versus Donald Trump, voters preferred Biden at 44% to Trump at 43%, with 9% wanting someone else and 4% undecided. However, when third-party candidate Colonel West was added, Trump took the lead 41% to Biden’s 40%, which indicates that Biden being only at a plurality lead in the pulls and with such a narrow margin in both matchups, will face a brutal 2024 re-election campaign.
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