Better Together: Trump-DeSantis Ticket Would Beat Biden-Harris

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is viewed as a rival to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, but as a vice-presidential running mate, DeSantis would significantly boost Trump’s chances of winning.

A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and Political Media, Inc., finds that, in a matchup against President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, 51% of Likely U.S. voters would vote for the Trump-DeSantis ticket, compared to 43% for Biden-Harris. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Trump’s eight-point advantage with DeSantis as his running mate is outside the margin of error. In a head-to-head matchup without consideration of vice-presidential candidates, Trump is below 50% and leads Biden by six points, 47% to 41%. 

“Trump/DeSantis wins with women, independents, Hispanics and college grads and does historically well with African Americans,” said Larry Ward, President of Political Media, Inc.

“Trump/DeSantis also wins the national popular vote, which would be a first for Republicans in 20 years. Trump does well head-to-head against Biden, but adding DeSantis to the ticket is powerful.”

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The survey of 1,050 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on April 27-May 2, 2023 by Rasmussen Reports and Political Media, Inc. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

With DeSantis as his running mate against Biden-Harris in 2024, Trump would get support from 87% of Republicans, 15% of Democrats and 54% of voters unaffiliated with either major party. The addition of DeSantis adds four points to Trump’s support among Republicans and five points among unaffiliated voters, as compared to his results in a pairing against Biden without mention of running mates.

The survey also asked voters about two other potential 2024 vice-presidential pairings for Trump, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. A Trump-Lake ticket would beat Biden-Harris by five points, 47% to 42%, while Biden-Harris would win by four points, 44% to 40%, over a Trump-Greene ticket.

In other findings from the Rasmussen Reports/Political Media, Inc., survey:

– Fifty-nine percent (59%) of voters view Trump favorably, including 37% with a Very Favorable impression of the former president. Thirty-nine percent (39%) view Trump unfavorably, including 29% with a Very Unfavorable opinion. Trump is viewed at least somewhat favorably by 81% of Republicans, 39% of Democrats and 58% of unaffiliated voters.

– Forty-six percent (46%) have a favorable opinion of Biden, including 29% with a Very Favorable impression. Fifty-three percent (53%) view Biden unfavorably, including 47% with a Very Unfavorable opinion. Biden has at least a somewhat favorable impression from 82% of Democrats, 14% of Republicans and 38% of unaffiliated voters.

– Sixty percent (60%) of voters view DeSantis favorably, including 33% with a Very Favorable opinion of the Florida governor. Thirty-three percent (33%) have an unfavorable impression of DeSantis, including 24% with a Very Unfavorable view of him.

– DeSantis’ favorability is 13 points higher than either Lake or Greene. The share of voters with a Very Unfavorable opinion of Greene (28%) is significantly higher than Lake (21%).

– Sixty-two percent (62%) of voters believe it is likely that cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, including 43% who think it’s Very Likely. Thirty-two percent (32%) say it’s not likely the 2020 election was affected by cheating, including 23% who believe it is Not At All Likely. Among Trump 2020 voters, 84% think it’s likely the outcome was affected by cheating, including 58% who say it is Very Likely. Surprisingly, 42% of 2020 Biden voters also believe it’s at least somewhat likely that cheating affected the election outcome.

– Sixty-five percent (65%) of all Likely Voters are confident that the reported outcomes of general elections in the United States reflect the true outcome of the vote, including 39% who are Very Confident. Thirty-two percent (32%) aren’t confident that reported outcomes reflect the actual vote, including 11% who are Not At All Confident. Those who voted for Trump in 2020 are significantly less confident that the true outcome of elections is reflected in the reported results.

– Compared to a Trump-Biden matchup without consideration of running mates, adding DeSantis would help Trump in a 2024 race against Biden-Harris among several demographic categories, boosting his support by four points among men, three points among whites, two points among black voters, three points among conservatives and five points among moderates.

– Asked who they trusted more to handle a series of issues, Trump-DeSantis were more trusted than Biden-Harris on all of them, including illegal immigration (54% to 41%), government corruption (51% to 43%), the economy (53% to 42%) and national security (52% to 42%).

“Governor DeSantis is both popular and well defined with both the [Republican] Party base and independents, bolstering an already strong Trump with nearly every demographic,” said Ward of Political Media, Inc.. “Other potential running mates are less known to voters and carry greater risk as they are defined in what is sure to be blistering contest. … The winning path is clear: a united Trump-DeSantis ticket would be an overwhelming favorite in 2024. I respectfully urge Governor DeSantis and President Trump to form a ticket and march to The White House.”

A majority of voters believe Secretary of State Anthony Blinken should be impeached for his reported role in helping suppress news about Hunter Biden’s laptop during the 2020 presidential campaign.

Accusations that President Joe Biden’s son got “preferential treatment” from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are a serious scandal, according to a majority of voters, but few expect the president to be impeached over it.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to the public as well as to Platinum Members.

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