Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign is rolling along quite well, considering the overt hostility he faces from the GOP Establishment and the legal assaults at the state and federal levels, which he has had to divert much of his time, money, and attention into fending off. In fact. his opponents are now in the single digits as he nears 60% support.
Such could be seen in a recent poll from Emerson College. According to it, he not only holds the lead over current President Joe Biden in a hypothetical matchup, but also is more than 50 points above all of his competitors, including those like DeSantis who used to be nipping at his heels.
According to the poll, Trump takes 59 percent of the GOP presidential primary race. Meanwhile, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley sits at nine percent alongside Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is slightly below her at eight percent. Chris Christie holds the support of four percent of the electorate.
The others are all doing even worse, with Pence sitting at just three percent alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, who seems to be angling for the Trump VP position rather than running to be president. None of the others managed to get above one percent, with South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, former Gov. Burgum of North Dakota, and former Gov. Hutchinson of Arkansas all at one percent together, as are Johnson and Elder.
One of the other interesting aspects of the poll is that young voters have turned their backs on Biden and are moving en masse to former President Donald Trump, a major shift from 2020, when a huge proportion of young voters backed Biden in the presidential election.
Spencer Kimball, the Executive Director of Emerson College Polling, commented on that result, saying, “While the poll reflects voters under 30 breaking for Biden by significant margins in 2020, 45% of voters under 30 support Trump in 2024 in this survey while 43% support Biden.”
Continuing, Kimball said, “These voters are most likely to be undecided among all age groups, at 12%. Even with progressive candidate Bernie Sanders on the ballot, the election is statistically similar among this group, 45% supporting Sanders and 42% Trump. The impact of Trump on younger voters is better seen in the Romney v. Biden ballot test where Biden leads 50% to 24% among voters under 30, more reflective of Biden’s 2020 support.”
Immigration appears to be one of the major issues in the election. Matt Taglia, the Senior Director of Emerson College Polling, said, “While concern over immigration has grown across all regions of the country since September, Northeastern voters rank the issue highest, with 19% naming it the most important issue facing the country.”
Taglia noted that those immigration-focused voters are overwhelmingly in support of Trump, saying, “Among all voters who say immigration is their top issue, 79% plan to support Trump in the Presidential election, and just 14% support Biden.”
So, though Trump is under attack, he is doing well with the American people, including young voters, as his competitors and President Joe Biden get hammered by public opinion, or, in the case of the lower-ranking GOP candidates, simply ignored by most voters.
