Amid former president Donald Trump’s announcement of his 2024 presidential bid and growing speculation surrounding Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ 2024 bid, it is likely that the GOP will see a showdown between the two in 2024. In order to get a pulse on Princeton students’ perspectives on the Trump v. DeSantis debate, the Tory conducted surveys of both general members of the undergraduate student body and those who identify as conservative, and the results were striking: both groups appear to be in consensus for DeSantis in 2024.
A total of 54 students were randomly surveyed at Frist Campus Center on November 21, 2022. 56% backed DeSantis, as opposed to the 11% who supported Trump. Interestingly, of those who preferred Trump to win the primary, all did so on the grounds that they believed he was more likely to lose the general election to the Democratic candidate.
In addition to the 36 individuals who picked either Trump or DeSantis, 33% of participants claimed to have no opinion on the subject or offered only derogatory comments towards both candidates. One student went as far as to claim that they “would rather stab [their] toe than see Trump or DeSantis in the White House.” Many other students made similar claims.
These results are unsurprising given that the 2026 Daily Princetonian’s Frosh Survey found that before arriving at Princeton, 72.5% of incoming freshmen had strongly unfavorable views of Donald Trump, while only 1.0% had strongly favorable views.
Students who identify as conservative were more enthusiastic about both candidates in a survey that was distributed to various conservative groups on November 29, 2022. In total, 56 students were surveyed. DeSantis still remained the favorite with 86% of student support, while Trump was favored by 14% of those surveyed.
Interestingly, Trump supporters were significantly more vocal, with 57% of Trump supporters choosing to elaborate on their opinions, while only 17% of DeSantis supporters chose to elaborate. Many Trump supporters admired his boldness and feared that electing DeSantis would be a “return to George Bush.” None favored Trump on the grounds that he was more likely to lose.
Now that the 2022 midterms have come to a close – save a handful of runoff elections – the nation will soon set its sights on the 2024 presidential election. The Tory’s surveys reveal a clear favorite among Princetonians.
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