If voters had their way, Donald Trump would pick one of his former 2024 primary rivals to be his running mate.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) are the top two choices among people who gave their preference of who the 77-year-old Trump should pick to join the GOP ticket this year, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll out Monday.
DeSantis, who ruled himself out of being Trump’s No. 2 in February, was the pick of 12% of all voters surveyed and 23% of self-described Republicans.
The 45-year-old Sunshine Stater was followed in the preference list by Scott (9% of all voters, 12% of Republicans), biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (8%, 13%), and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (5%, 8%).
Sen. Marco Rubio, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and pundit Tucker Carlson were each the choice of 4% voters — though Carlson was slightly more favored by self-described Republicans (5%), than Noem (4%) or Rubio (3%).
Nearly four in 10 respondents wanted Trump to pick “someone else” (11%) or “none of the above” (28%) on the Harvard/Harris list, which also included Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (3%), Sen. JD Vance of Ohio (3%), Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida (3%), North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (3%), Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake (2%), and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York (2%).
Trump has teased that he will announce his VP decision shortly before the Republican National Convention, held July 15-18 in Milwaukee.
The poll concluded that Scott would give Trump the biggest boost with self-described Democrats, Hispanics, and independent voters, while Ramaswamy would elevate the former president most with skeptical Republicans.
The poll showed Trump leading President Biden, 81, by six percentage points — 49% to 43% — and holding that six-point margin — 53% to 47% — when respondents were made to pick between the two.
In a three-way race with independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump leads Biden 45% to 40%, with RFK Jr., netting 14% support.
The poll was released five days after Trump and Biden agreed to two debates, to be held June 27 and Sept. 10.
Nearly four in five of voters (79%) said they wanted debates to take place, while nearly two thirds (63%) said they would provide valuable information to voters.
However, 73% said they wanted the two major contenders to arrange the forums through the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which was cut out of negotiations last week.
The online survey sampled 1,660 voters May 15-16, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2 percentage points.
