Utah voters may be ready to move away from Donald Trump.
The former president has fared poorly in the new Deseret News/Hinkley Institute of Politics polls, even among Republicans. also included one of his biggest critics in Congress.
And six out of 10 people in Utah overall have a poor impression of Trump, but he has a slightly better impression of the Republican Party.
Trump announced last month that he would be running for president for the third time from his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida.
If the Republican presidential primary were held today, only 14.6% of Utahans would vote for the former president.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis topped the list with 24.2%, followed by Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost out to the pro-Trump candidate with 16.4%. Former Vice President Mike Pence and Texas Senator Ted Cruz both scored 6%, while former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley scored 3.7%.
The poll found that 20.7% of respondents were unsure who they would vote for and 8.5% would choose another candidate.
Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Political Studies at the University of Utah, said Trump’s influence appears to be waning.
“His power, his command over the Republican Party, seems to have weakened to the point that when you ask Republicans in Utah if they would consider another candidate, they apparently do.
“There was a time when conservative candidates wanted his endorsement and felt they needed Trump’s endorsement to be re-elected. Not now.”
Perry said the Republican presidential race was open and that Trump’s candidacy wasn’t crowding out other candidates. We may find out early next year who will and who won’t.
Trump’s numbers improved among those who said they planned to participate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, which is open only to Republicans. He also performs better against Republican voters, but still trails DeSantis.
A poll found that 74.8% of respondents plan to vote in the presidential primary more than a year from now. Among that group, 28.9% would choose DeSantis, 18.8% would choose Trump, and 12.1% would choose Cheney, who was a member of the House Jan. 6 committee and was highly critical of Trump. Cruz followed at 7.5%, Pence at 6.4% and Hailey at 3.7%. Another 16.5% of him are undecided and 6% would choose someone else.
Of those who identified themselves as Republicans in the poll, 33.1% supported DeSantis, followed by Trump at 21.1% and Cheney at 10%. The remaining potential voters were less than 7% of him, and his 16% of voters were undecided.
Dan Jones & Associates polled 802 registered voters in Utah from November 18-23. There is an error of plus or minus 3.46%.
DeSantis, who held a fundraiser in Utah earlier this year, also surpassed Trump among voters who described themselves as “very conservative” or “somewhat conservative.” Last month, 86 Republican Utah lawmakers, including several state senators, signed a letter urging DeSantis to run. This is another sign of him that even conservative Republicans are ready to overtake Trump.
Trump won Utah in both 2016 and 2020, but received only 45.5% of the vote in the first election. This was the lowest percentage for a Republican since George HW Bush in 1992. vote that year.
In 2020, Trump won the state with 58.1% of the vote.
Perry said Trump’s waning influence isn’t just about the fact that Utahans are willing to entertain other candidates, but also how they view him. said it was clear.
According to a Deseret News/Hinckley poll, 60.1% of Utah voters have an unfavorable impression of the former president, and half of them have a very unfavorable impression. Only 38% have a favorable impression of Trump.
Of the Republicans who took part in the survey, 50.8% had a favorable impression of Trump, and 47% had an unfavorable impression. According to the survey, three-quarters of “very conservative” voters and half of “somewhat conservative” voters have a favorable impression of him.
“This shows they are willing to consider other candidates, and former President Donald Trump is not as influential as he used to be,” Perry said.
A new HarrisX poll conducted for Deseret News found that a majority of voters nationwide are ready to move on from Trump as Republican leader.
Republicans aren’t sure who is leading the party. Nearly a quarter of Republican voters say who the current leader is, while 30% of Republican voters say he’s Trump, according to national polls taken Monday and Tuesday. I don’t know or don’t know.
But when asked whether Republicans should walk away from Trump or keep him as party leader, 52% said Trump should retain his role as party leader. 55% of voters overall, including Trump, believe the Republican Party should move away from Trump.
