Poll: Donald Trump Holds 39-Point Lead in California Republican Primary

Former President Donald Trump holds a 39-point lead in California’s Republican primary race, a survey from UC Berkeley found.

The survey, taken August 24-29, 2023, found a majority supporting Trump in the 2024 Republican primary race. No other candidate came close, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in a distant second, 39 points behind, with 16 percent support.

Notably, Trump’s 55 percent support reflects an 11-point jump from the 44 percent support he had in May, and DeSantis’s 16 percent support reflects a ten-point decrease from the 26 percent he saw in May–the month he formally launched his presidential campaign. In sum, that is a 21-point swing away from DeSantis to Trump since May:

DeSantis’s failure to make progress in the polls comes as the pro-DeSantis Super PAC, Never Back Down, recently ceased door-knocking operations in Super Tuesday states such as California, as well as North Carolina and Texas.

“We want to reinvest in the first three,” Never Back Down spokesperson Erin Perrine told NBC News, referring to the early states of New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina.

“We see real opportunities in the first three. The first three are going to set the conditions for the March states,” Perrine continued.

That statement came more than one month after the emergence of a leaked “confidential” memo, in which the DeSantis campaign addressed growing concerns over DeSantis’s performance in the polls. Similarly, the campaign detailed its strategy of putting off Super Tuesday states to focus efforts on Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire.

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a campaign event on Monday, July 17, 2023, in Tega Cay, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

“While Super Tuesday is critically important, we will not dedicate resources to Super Tuesday that slow our momentum in New Hampshire. We expect to revisit this investment in the Fall,” the memo read in part.

Thursday’s RealClearPolitics (RCP) average of polls shows Trump up 33 points in the Golden State.