‘Trump Is Enormously Popular – Far More So Than DeSantis’: Fox News Panel Reacts to New Republican Primary Poll

Former President Donald Trump holds a sizable lead over the potential Republican field, according to a Fox News poll released on Wednesday.

Trump notched 54% of Republican primary voters in the survey, which was well ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who had 24%. The governor has not announced a presidential bid yet, though many believe he will do so in the coming weeks.

Other potential candidates included in the poll were former Vice President Mike Pence (6%) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (3%). Nikki Haley, Trump’s former United Nations ambassador, has declared her candidacy and also polled in the single digits (3%).

Trump has repeatedly attacked DeSantis for being “disloyal” after Trump endorsed him for governor in 2018 and has taken credit for his political rise.

On Wednesday’s Special Report, the panel reacted to the data, which shows Trump’s lead “widening,” as host Bret Baier put it.

“It’s pretty early, Bret,” said Fox News Chief Political Analyst Brit Hume. “But the lead has expanded noticeably. I mean, it was what? It was 15 points or so in our earlier poll. Now it’s 30 for Trump. Now, I don’t know how firm or hard that is in terms of the sentiment. But, anybody looking at that now as a Republican candidate would have to find it pretty daunting to see a guy sitting well above 50% and nobody else really near him.”

Olivia Beavers of Politico stated several House Republicans were reluctant to commit to backing Trump at this point.

“We’ve been polling House Republicans, including some of Donald Trump’s most ardent and loyal supporters in the House,” she said. “And we were asking them, ‘Are you supporting him again?’ And we’re ticking up to about four dozen Republicans in the Senate and the House.”

Beavers added that “only a fraction” are willing to go on the record as supporting Trump at this early stage.

Byron York of the Washington Examiner chimed in to say that a national poll isn’t the best indicator because gaining momentum in early primary and caucus states such as Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina is more important. However, he noted the gap between Trump and the rest of the potential field is quite large.

But this new Fox News poll does show that Trump is extremely popular with the Republican base and the Republican Party,” he said. “And so far, Desantis is not even formally running – that doesn’t exist. Trump is enormously popular – far more so than Desantis in the Republican Party across the country.”