Reuters Poll: Donald Trump Closes in on Majority as Vivek Ramaswamy Surges, Ron DeSantis Slides

Former President Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican primary field with a near majority of support and is neck and neck with President Joe Biden in a hypothetical general election match-up, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. 

The poll, released Wednesday, shows Trump leading the pack with 47 percent of support among a sample of 1,640 Republicans. He sits 28 percentage points above Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who takes 19 percent. The margin between the pair has grown seven points since the June Reuters/Ipsos poll. Since then, Trump has climbed four percentage points, while DeSantis has slid three points. 

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has surged six points from last month’s poll and sits in third place with nine percent support, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence at seven percent. Former Govs. Nikki Haley (R-SC) and Chris Christie (R-NJ) tie at three percent, with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) right behind at two percent. 

Other declared candidates in the poll, including former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, and former Rep Will Hurd (R-TX), did not secure a percentage point. 

On the Democrat side, Biden comfortably leads the field with 65 percent support as his closest competitor, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holds 15 percent. Another four percent back Marianne Williamson. 

In a hypothetical 2020 rematch between Biden and Trump, the incumbent narrowly leads 37 percent to 35 percent. Another eleven percent would back a third-party candidate, while nine percent would sit out the election. Seven percent of the voters are undecided in that scenario.

The poll also gauged two potential three-way races — one between DeSantis, Trump, and Biden and another between Trump, Kennedy, and Biden. 

In a race where DeSantis is the Republican nominee against Biden and Trump runs as a third-party candidate, Biden leads with 36 percent support. Trump, as an independent, would take 25 percent of the vote share, leaving DeSantis with just 18 percent as the GOP nominee.

When Trump is the GOP nominee against Biden and Kennedy runs third party, the 45th and 46th presidents tie at 31 percent. Kennedy sits 13 points back at 18 percent. 

Ipsos sampled a total of 4,414 adults from July 11-17, and the survey has an overall margin of error of ± 1.8 percentage points.