Poll: Many young, educated Republicans ready to move on from Trump
A day after a New York Times poll indicated that a majority of Democrats do not want President Joe Biden as their 2024 candidate, a second poll shows that most young Republicans do not want Donald Trump to win their party’s nomination.
The New York Times/Siena College poll showed that Trump was the preferred GOP candidate of 49% of all respondents, but the percentage dropped considerably among younger and college-educated voters. About 64% of Republicans under 35 and 65% of Republicans with at least a bachelor’s degree say they would vote against the former president in the primary, the poll said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held an edge over Trump among Republicans with at least a bachelor’s degree, with 32% supporting DeSantis and 28% favoring Trump, the poll showed. By comparison, the poll said 21% of Republicans with no degree preferred DeSantis while 58% said they would vote for Trump if the primary were held today.
Overall support for DeSantis among those surveyed was about 25%.
About 16% of Republican voters said they would support Biden, a third-party candidate or no one at all if Trump is the nominee.
Republican voter Richard Bechtol, 31, of Columbus, told the New York Times he would back DeSantis or Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz over Trump, noting “I hope (Trump) doesn’t run at all.”
Bechtol said he would support Trump over Biden if they faced each other in 2024. The poll, however, showed Trump trailing Biden in a potential rematch, 44% to 41%.
In a late June poll, Vice President Kamala Harris held a slight lead over DeSantis in a potential 2024 race featuring them, 39% for 37%. About 23% of respondents were undecided.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday showed 64% of Democratic voters said they would prefer a different Democratic candidate than Biden in the upcoming presidential election. That percentage grew to 94% among Democrats under the age of 30, according to the survey.
Biden’s approval rating among Democrats sits at 33%, The Times reported.
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