With the road to the 2024 Presidential election set to officially get underway Monday, former President Donald Trump continues to hold a commanding lead in the race for the Republican nomination.
According to a new poll, the final one before conservative voters cast their vote in the 2024 Iowa Caucus, Trump maintains a nearly 30-point lead over the rest of the Republican slate of Presidential hopefuls.
Among likely Republican caucus-goers, Trump got 48% of the vote – nearly an outright majority – in the poll conducted by NBC News, the Des Moines Register and Mediacom Iowa.
Trump has retained his robust standing among Republican voters despite the litany of legal troubles he is currently battling, including criminal indictments in four separate cases.
Trump’s nearest competitor, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, was a distant second-place in the poll at 20%.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis polled at 16% for third place, though his total is close enough to Haley’s to be within the poll’s margin for error.
If Trump maintains such a substantial lead when the votes are cast, it will make history in Iowa as the largest margin of victory ever for a non-incumbent in the state’s Republican caucus. The current record belongs to Bob Dole’s 13-point win in 1988.
And with inclement winter weather possibly playing a factor in the turnout, Trump could actually have an even greater advantage, according to the poll’s results.
When asked to rate their enthusiasm for the candidates they support, 49% of Trump supporters said they are “extremely enthusiastic” about his campaign, compared to 23% for DeSantis supporters and only 9% of Haley supporters.
That devotion could prove crucial in voters deciding whether or not to brave the frigid cold and cast a vote Monday.