EXCLUSIVE — Former Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan is trailing former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in a hypothetical matchup for the 2024 GOP primary in the Old Line State, according to a new independent poll conducted by co/efficient.
The survey shows Hogan receiving 18% to Trump’s 33% and DeSantis’s 27% among likely Republican primary voters. Hogan and DeSantis have not yet announced their presidential plans.
Former South Carolina GOP Gov. Nikki Haley, who announced her candidacy earlier this month, trailed Hogan at 6% with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo coming in at 2% and both former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) polling at 1%. Another 12% remained undecided.
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While the former president is up by 6 points on a crowded ballot, he is down in a head-to-head matchup, with DeSantis leading Trump 39% to 35%, with 26% undecided. DeSantis currently has a 63%-17% favorable/unfavorable rating to Trump’s 56%-29% among those polled.
When paired up against Hogan, Trump led the Maryland Republican with 59% to Hogan’s 32% and 10% remaining undecided.
Multiple GOP sources have indicated that a crowded field likely helps Trump in a primary, with his critics raising concerns that too many candidates entering the race could guarantee his candidacy.
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“Hogan is definitely sucking up the anti-Trumpers, and most of those go to DeSantis when Hogan is not on the ticket,” one GOP operative said.
Hogan, a vocal Trump critic, recently indicated that he would not enter the race if he believed it would benefit the former president during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“That’d be a pretty good reason to consider not running, absolutely,” he said. “I don’t care that much about my future in the Republican Party. I care about making sure we have a future for the Republican Party.”
The poll was conducted from Feb. 19-20 via text response and landline interviews among 1,007 likely Maryland presidential primary voters and leaves a margin of error of plus or minus 3.58%.
