Former President Donald Trump can attribute his significant polling lead to a key demographic: "Make America Great Again" women.
An exclusive poll from the Daily Mail shows that women are responsible for the former president's large primary lead in several battleground states, giving him an edge over other GOP presidential candidates who are vying for supporters.
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Trump leads Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in the RealClearPolitics average, with a significant boost among women voters in a head-to-head contest with the Florida governor in states such as New Hampshire, Iowa, and Arizona.
In New Hampshire, polling shows Trump received 56% of female support compared to DeSantis's 30%. Similarly, Trump holds 48% in Iowa and 58% in Arizona among female voters, compared to DeSantis's 35% and 28%, respectively.
"Republican women are Trump's army," James Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners, told the outlet. "In the wider country, Trump lags behind Biden with women — especially in the suburbs. But get to the Republican primary audience, and female voters are Trump’s most ardent supporters — backing him more than men do by as much as 30 points."
The reason women appear to be supporting Trump over DeSantis could boil down to the culture war fights the Florida governor has touted throughout his campaign. DeSantis has focused much of his campaign looking to end "wokeness" in businesses, healthcare, education, and the military.
But DeSantis's fight against "wokeness" isn't waking up female voters.
Meghan Milloy, co-founder of Republican Women for Progress, told the outlet that DeSantis is delivering a message that isn't resonating with women.
"DeSantis came in hot on the culture wars and has stayed hot while other Republicans have piped down a bit, and I think that women across the board are rejecting those policies and are generally tired of the attacks on businesses for being too 'woke,'" Milloy said.
Trump has historically had a difficult time appealing to suburban female voters. In 2020, while he took in over 50% of the male vote, he only received about 43% of women. While early polling shows that he is attracting female voters in the battleground states for the primary election, it may be harder to maintain those leads in the general election, particularly in light of his recent court battles.
A New York jury recently ordered the former president to pay former columnist E. Jean Carroll $5 million in damages for sexually abusing and defaming her. He had called her a "liar." He also is known for calling Hillary Clinton and other women a "nasty woman" and is facing an indictment out of Manhattan for hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
The key to garnering female support in the general election could depend on who Trump selects as his running mate. While having a female running mate does not always mean female voters will vote for that ticket, it is possible that Trump having a running mate such as Kari Lake (who is popular in Arizona), Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR), Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), or even GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley could give him an edge in the polls.
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"President Trump has been dominating in poll after poll — both nationally and statewide — and voters from all backgrounds are clearly standing with him in a big way," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said. "The fact is that President Trump will be the nominee and will beat Crooked Joe Biden because he's the only person who can supercharge the economy, secure our border, safeguard communities, and put an end to unnecessary wars. Americans want to return to a prosperous nation and there’s only one person who can do that — President Trump."
The Washington Examiner reached out to DeSantis's campaign for comment.