MU Poll: Haley holds landslide lead on Biden

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WMTV) – Former president Donald Trump holds a commanding lead in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, but, when it comes to winning the White House, it’s one of his up-and-coming challengers that has the big edge, a new Marquette Law poll finds.

The new poll of presidential candidates gives one-time South Carolina governor Nikki Haley a ten-point lead over President Joe Biden in a head-to-head matchup (55% to 45%) among registered voters. Narrowing the respondents to likely voters only stretches the former U.N. Ambassador’s lead to 12 points.

Haley’s support in the Republican primary has doubled since the last MU Poll in September, according to pollsters. That brings her into a tie with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who has shed more than two-thirds of his backers since March. However, both candidates sit in a distant second place.

If combined, Haley and DeSantis supporters of would still be less than half of Trump’s total, with the former president backed by 54% of Republican voters, and each of the other two tallying 12% each.

Should Trump continue his stranglehold on the primary and claim the nomination, though, he would face a tougher challenge in November, the poll finds. The GOP frontrunner holds a four-point lead over Biden among registered voters.

Interestingly, the gap between Haley and Trump depends on party membership. Which party does not matter, it just matters if someone is a member of one. Haley’s advantage over Biden is greater among both Republicans and Democrats, while Trump performs better than the president among independents.

According to the MU Law School, the poll included 856 registered voters nationwide and has a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percentage points. For likely voters, pollsters talked to 668 people, and those results have a +/- 5 margin of error.

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