TRUMP UP BY 50 IN MICHIGAN GOP RACE? The political class has spent a lot of time obsessing about former President Donald Trump’s lead in the Republican early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. There’s been less time devoted to how Trump is doing in some bigger states that follow the first three.
Michigan holds its primary just three days after South Carolina. It’s one of the biggest states on the primary calendar. And now a new poll by the Washington Post and Monmouth University shows that Trump has a 50-point — yes, a 50-point — lead in the Republican race there.
The poll showed that 63% of likely Republican primary voters surveyed said they will vote for Trump, versus 13% for Ron DeSantis, 13% for Nikki Haley, 5% for Chris Christie, and 3% for Vivek Ramaswamy. Just 4% said they had no opinion.
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It goes without saying, although it will be said here one more time, that a 50-point lead is huge. According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls in the early states, Trump’s lead in Iowa is 31 points, in New Hampshire is 25 points, and in South Carolina is 30 points. So 50 points is big.
Trump’s Michigan support also appears to be pretty solid. Seventy-two percent of those who said they will vote for the former president said they are “definitely” supporting him, while just 27% said they would consider supporting another candidate. For the other candidates, only about a third of supporters said they would definitely vote for them, while two-thirds said they would consider someone else.
“The most likely voters to turn out in Michigan’s Republican primary seem to be the Trump enthusiasts,” Monmouth polling director Patrick Murray said in a statement. “This probably includes many who were lukewarm on him eight years ago but are now fully behind his comeback bid. The other candidates just aren’t lighting the same kind of spark.”