Poll: Ron DeSantis trails Donald Trump by 53 points in Texas

The final University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll of 2023 presents bad news for the Ron DeSantis presidential campaign.

In a state where he said he’d leave migrants “stone cold dead” for the crime of crossing the border, it appears Texas voters are ready to return the favor regarding his presidential campaign.

“Four months out from the March presidential primary election in Texas, 65% of Texas voters planning to vote in the Republican primary favor Donald Trump, a slight increase from the 62% who said the same in October. The slight shifts among Trump’s challengers evident in polling in early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire have failed, so far, to appear in Texas,” reads the polling memo accompanying the results.

“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley were the choices of only 12% and 9% of potential GOP primary voters, respectively, with the remaining candidates still in the race all receiving less than 5% support.”

DeSantis was at 13% in the October poll, so he lost a point this fall. He’s poorly positioned to get any of Texas’ 162 delegates, which are to be apportioned on a winner-take-all basis based on the results of the March 5 Primary.

There is no demographic cohort with which DeSantis could be described as performing well. His high-water mark is with Primary voters who went to graduate school; he has 16% support with that group.

This survey reinforces a narrative that Texas is Trump country, one that can be seen in previous polls.

Polling released earlier this month from CWS Research shows DeSantis and Haley in a dead heat for the runner-up spot, with both the Florida Governor and the former South Carolina Governor garnering 11% support, 50 points behind Trump.

A University of Houston and Texas Southern University poll of 524 registered Texas GOP Primary voters from October, reported by Axios, shows the former President with 58% support, DeSantis at 14% and Haley with 6%.

DeSantis qualified for the Texas ballot at the end of November, days after Gov. Greg Abbott endorsed Trump. But if this most recent poll and other opinion surveys are to be believed, he won’t get much traction in the Lone Star State.