A new poll shows where Republican voters in Michigan stand on another possible run for former President Donald Trump, a matchup with Ron DeSantis, and 2020 election fraud claims.
The WDIV/Detroit News survey asked likely Republican primary voters if they would support Trump if he decided to run for president again, and how he would fare against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the other Republican favorite to run in 2024. Here are some key findings:
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Most GOP voters at least somewhat support Trump running again
The WDIV/Detroit News survey found 64% of Republican primary voters support Donald Trump running for re-election. 48.0% of voters strongly support his running for re-election, while 16.0% somewhat support his running for re-election.
College educated voters are waning in their support for Donald Trump running again for president, with only 40.2% strongly supporting another run. But these numbers weaken considerably among fiscal conservative voters, where 56.6% support his running for re-election compared to 34.6% opposing his running for re-election.
- Only 38.5% of fiscal conservative voters strongly support Donald Trump running for re-election.
- 32.6% of “classic Republican” voters strongly support Trump running again.
Poll: Where Michigan Republican voters stand in GOP governor race, Trump influence
Trump, DeSantis nearly even in Michigan
Michigan GOP primary voters were asked if they would support Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis to be the Republican candidate for President in 2024, with the results producing only a small modest lead for Donald Trump.
- 45.2% said they’d vote for Trump, while 41.6% said they’d vote for DeSantis. 12.4% were undecided.
The sharpest difference was by education level, with Trump holding a large lead among high school educated voters, and DeSantis holding a large lead among college educated voters.
Among Trump Republicans, Donald Trump leads 70.7%-21.4%. But among “classic Republicans,” DeSantis holds a large lead of 53.3%-32.6%.
Michigan GOP voters side with Trump over state leaders
Survey respondents were told that Republican leaders in the Michigan State Senate conducted an investigation of charges of fraud in the 2020 election and found them unsubstantiated and not true. They were asked who they believe more: Republican leaders of the State Senate or Donald Trump and his campaign team that insist there was substantial fraud in Michigan in 2020.
59.2% of likely GOP voters said they side with Trump over State Senate leaders.
“Classic Republicans” were more closely split, with 42.6% choosing Donald Trump, and 37.1% choosing GOP Senate leaders. But by a margin of 89.3%-7.1%, Trump Republican voters chose Donald Trump over GOP Senate leaders.
Related: Full WDIV/Detroit News poll: 4 biggest takeaways from Michigan voters heading into elections
Methodology
The Glengariff Group, Inc. conducted a Michigan statewide survey of likely August 2022 Michigan Republican primary voters. The 500 sample, live operator telephone survey was conducted on July 13-15, 2022 and has a margin of error of +/-4.4% with a 95% level of confidence. 40% of respondents were contacted via landline telephone. 60.0% of respondents were contacted via cell phone telephone. This survey was commissioned by WDIV Local 4 News and the Detroit News.