Nearly half of all Republican voters said that a presidential nominee other than former President Donald Trump would be a better candidate in 2024, according to the results of a new poll.
A CNN/SSRS poll released Sunday found that while 51 percent of Republican voters and Republican-leaning independents said that the party would stand a better chance with Trump as the nominee, 49 percent would prefer a different Republican.
Support for a different Republican candidate has nearly tripled since March 2019, when an earlier edition of the same poll found that only 17 percent of GOP voters indicated that a candidate other than Trump stood a better chance of winning.
Responses to the question differed depending on ideology, with 59 percent who identified as moderates saying that a different candidate stood a better chance, compared to 42 percent of self-identified conservatives who said the same.
Republicans without a college degree were far more likely to favor Trump—58 percent said that the party would stand a better chance with the former president as the 2024 nominee, while 65 percent of college graduates backed a different candidate.
An even bigger divide was seen between Republicans who were vaccinated against COVID-19 and those who were not. Two-thirds of the unvaccinated—66 percent—favored Trump, compared to only 39 percent of those who had received a vaccine.
Still, the poll found that a clear majority of Republicans support Trump as the party's leader in 2021, with 63 percent saying that the former president should lead the party and 37 percent saying that he should not.
Additionally, 61 percent said that supporting Trump was an important part of being a Republican.
The poll found that 77 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents agreed that supporting President Joe Biden was an important part of being a Democrat.
The poll was conducted among 2,119 U.S. adults online and over the phone between August 3 and September 7. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8-3 percent.
Although Republicans may not be unified in believing that Trump would be the Republican candidate most likely to win in 2024, polling suggest that he could easily win the nomination. Some polls have also indicated that Trump stands a reasonable chance of winning in a hypothetical rematch with Biden.
An Emerson College survey released earlier this month found that a 67 percent majority of Republicans would vote for Trump in the 2024 GOP primary—a massive advantage over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who had the support of 10 percent.
The same poll showed Trump with a razor-thin advantage—47 percent to 46 percent—over Biden in the general election. However, the poll found that Biden was clearly favored to defeat DeSantis, 48 percent to 36 percent.
Newsweek reached out to the Republican National Committee for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
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