(The Center Square) – Newly released polling shows that former President Donald Trump holds a sizable lead over an array of Republican primary challengers.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday shows that Trump has held on to his lead with 54% support from Republicans. In a distant second place is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has 17%, followed by several candidates around 2-3%.
According to the new poll, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and former ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley all have 3% support.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and author and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy both have 2% support. Polls have varied significantly in how well lower-polling candidates are faring. Recent polls have showed either Ramaswamy or Pence polling higher.
Regardless, one trend is clear across polls: A major lead for Trump.
That poll comes after a CBS news poll released over the weekend shows 60% of Americans disapprove of the job President Joe Biden is doing as president.
Trump had a lead over DeSantis last year but saw his numbers shoot up after federal agents raided his Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents, kicking off a string of legal problems for the former president.
Trump’s poll numbers, though, have seemingly been propelled by the targeting, which the former president calls a coordinated, corrupt attempt to keep him from winning the White House.
“Hillary Clinton deleted 33,000 Emails, many of them Classified, after getting a Subpoena from Congress,” Trump posted Sunday on TruthSocial, his social media site of choice. “Nothing happened to her, & stupid James Comey, then head of the FBI, stated that no reasonable prosecutor would prosecute this. Then why is Deranged Jack Smith prosecuting me when I did nothing wrong, as per the PRA? The answer is Election Interference – They are using the Department of Injustice in an attempt to Rig & Steal the Presidential Election on 2024. This is Prosecutorial Misconduct!”
