Former President Donald Trump is favored over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis among registered Republican voters in California in the 2024 presidential primary, a new poll from Emerson College Polling and Inside California Politics shows.
54.5% of registered Republican respondents said they would most likely vote for Trump in the presidential primary, nearly three times as many who said they would vote for DeSantis (18.7%).
The poll was conducted from June 4 – 7, before a federal indictment against Trump became public.
Former Vice President Mike Pence was the top choice for 11.8% of those polled, with former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley rounding out the top four with support from 5.7% of respondents.
However, among California voters, both Trump and DeSantis trailed President Joe Biden by more than 20 percentage points in hypothetical matchups.
53.5% of respondents favored Biden over Trump, who was the preferred candidate for 31.7% of respondents. If that matchup were to repeat itself in 2024, 9.6% said they would vote for someone else and 5.2% said they were undecided.
A similar percentage, 53.7%, favored Biden over DeSantis, who was the preferred candidate for 28.4% of respondents. In that matchup, 10.3% said they would vote for someone else and 7.6% said they were undecided.
Biden Sweeps 2024 Democratic Primary Poll
As the incumbent president, Biden is easily the favorite in the 2024 Democratic primary among registered Democrats polled.
Biden was the top choice for 73.3% of registered Democrats polled.
Robert Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and nephew of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was the second most popular choice with 16.2% favoring him. 6.6% of respondents said they would vote for author Marianne Williamson.
4.6% said they would vote for someone else.
Democratic Politicians’ Approval Rating
Despite the strong support from California voters in the two seemingly most likely 2024 matchups, Biden’s approval rating among respondents (43.9%) was only about 4 percentage points higher than those who said they disapproved of the job he was doing as president (39.6%).
Vice President and California native Kamala Harris fared slightly worse than the president. 37% of California voters polled said they approve of her job performance while 41.8% said they disapprove.
44.7% of respondents said they approve of Governor Gavin Newsom. 39.4% said they disapprove.
A plurality (45.1%) of California voters said they felt neutral or had no opinion on Sen. Alex Padilla. 32% of respondents said they approved of the job Padilla was doing as senator. 22.9% said they disapproved.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein had the lowest approval rating of politicians polled. Just 21.7% said they approved of the job she was doing. 47.5% said they disapprove.
Asked whether the senator, who missed nearly 3 months of Senate votes earlier this year while recovering from shingles, should finish out her term, which ends in 2025, or resign, 62.8% of Californians polled said she should resign.
