The majority of Republican voters want a 2024 presidential candidate who "challenges woke ideas" and "makes liberals angry," according to a new poll.
The CBS/YouGov poll found that Republican voters are looking for a candidate "who says Trump won in 2020, who challenges woke ideas, who doesn't criticize Trump and, for good measure, makes liberals angry."
A massive 85 percent of those surveyed said that they want someone who challenges "woke ideas," 66 percent want a candidate who opposes gun restrictions, 61 percent want the candidate to say "Trump won," and 57 percent want their presidential candidate to "make liberals angry."
When asked to choose a candidate they would vote for right now — former President Donald Trump was the clear leader, with 58 percent saying they will vote for him and 18 percent saying they are considering voting for him.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came in second, with 22 percent saying they intend to vote for him and 30 percent saying they are considering it. No other candidate or potential candidate broke double digits.
"There is some overlap between DeSantis and Trump consideration," the pollsters report. "Four in 10 likely voters are considering both of them. But it breaks to Trump's advantage when it comes down to vote choice. An anti-woke stance may help DeSantis right now, but it isn't enough on its own to overtake Trump, since Trump has that item covered too. Trump wins voters who want a candidate to challenge woke ideas."
Only seven percent of the likely voters said that they want a candidate who will criticize Trump.
A near-unanimous 94 percent of those supporting Trump cited his past performance as president and that he "fights for people like me" as their motivation. Other reasons included "he would beat Biden" (84 percent), how he deals with opponents (82 percent), "he actually won in 2020" (75 percent), and "he makes liberals angry" (51 percent).
The poll found that white non-college voters support Trump by 30 points more than college-degree holders.
DeSantis had not ruled out or announced a candidacy as of May 2, 2023.
The CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,372 US adult residents interviewed between April 27-29, 2023. The margin of error is ±5.4 points.
