Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Trump-DeSantis Dream Ticket: Is It Possible?

A new Rasmussen poll says the GOP dream ticket of Donald Trump for president and Ron DeSantis for vice-president (the Don/Ron combo) would easily beat Biden/Harris next year.

But is such a ticket even possible? Both Don and Ron now legally reside in and vote from Florida and a sentence in the US Constitution has many believing that a party's presidential and vice presidential candidates cannot be from the same state. It has to do with the electoral vote. It states: "The electors ... shall vote for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves." But, most scholars and analysts concur that this provision does not prevent the election of two running mates from the same state in part because the 12 amendment to the Constitution puts the presidential and vice presidential candidates on separate electoral college ballots. 

Anyway, here's what Rasmussen says about the latest poll:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is viewed as a rival to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, but as a vice-presidential running mate, DeSantis would significantly boost Trump’s chances of winning.

A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and Political Media, Inc., finds that, in a matchup against President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, 51% of Likely U.S. voters would vote for the Trump-DeSantis ticket, compared to 43% for Biden-Harris. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Trump’s eight-point advantage with DeSantis as his running mate is outside the margin of error. In a head-to-head matchup without consideration of vice-presidential candidates, Trump is below 50% and leads Biden by six points, 47% to 41%. “Trump/DeSantis also wins the national popular vote, which would be a first for Republicans in 20 years. Trump does well head-to-head against Biden, but adding DeSantis to the ticket is powerful.”

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in Rasmussen polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,050 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on April 27-May 2, 2023 by Rasmussen Reports and Political Media, Inc. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

With DeSantis as his running mate against Biden-Harris in 2024, Trump would get support from 87% of Republicans, 15% of Democrats and 54% of voters unaffiliated with either major party. The addition of DeSantis adds four points to Trump’s support among Republicans and five points among unaffiliated voters, as compared to his results in a pairing against Biden without mention of running mates.

No comments: