CNN: 53 Percent of Republicans Support Trump

More than half of Republican voters support former President Donald Trump, according to CNN poll results released Wednesday.

Trump has 53% support of Republican voters and GOP-leaning independents, the CNN survey conducted by SSRS found.

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s expected to enter the race formally Wednesday night, earned 26% support in the poll. No other Republican received more than the 6% earned by both former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

The poll results were released two weeks after the network hosted a town hall with Trump that left liberals fuming over how the former president took control of the event.

Trump’s large lead in the latest CNN poll marks a change from CNN’s March polling, which found the former president and DeSantis roughly tied.

According to these latest results, Trump also leads DeSantis by similar margins among both older and younger voters. In March, Trump’s support was weaker among those older than 45 than it was among younger GOP-aligned voters.

The CNN poll was conducted May 17-20, before Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., announced Monday his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

The survey found that many Republican-aligned voters are willing to consider either Trump or DeSantis, as well as several other candidates.

More than eight in 10 also either support or say they’re open to considering Trump (84%) and DeSantis (85%). Smaller majorities say they support or would consider former Haley (61%), Scott (60%) and Pence (54%).

Among those Republican primary voters who say Trump is their first choice, 87% say they would consider supporting DeSantis, 55% that they’d consider Scott, 51% that they’d consider Haley, and 50% that they’d consider radio host Larry Elder.

As for the primary voters who say Trump is not their first choice, 66% say they would consider supporting him. Only 16% of all GOP-aligned voters say they wouldn’t back Trump under any circumstances.

The CNN poll also found that most Republican voters already have ruled out several candidates or potential candidates. A total of 60% say they would not support former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for the nomination under any circumstances, while 55% say the same about former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.

More than half (52%) of Republican and GOP-leaning voters think it’s highly likely that Trump will win the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, and another 35% say that it’s somewhat likely. Only 13% say that it’s not likely at all or not too likely.

The CNN poll was conducted among a random national sample of 1,227 adults, including 476 Republicans and GOP-leaning independents who are registered to vote.