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(CNN) — The first Republican primary debate won’t take place until August. The initial primaries and caucuses won’t happen until early next year.
But the 2024 presidential primary campaign is in full swing.
There is a growing field of candidates who will soon begin traveling the states of the primary schools, appearing in interviews and trying to get attention. Super PACs aligned with their interests are already battling it out on the airwaves.
Here are the current declared Republican presidential candidates, ordered by their place in CNN’s latest poll of likely GOP primary voters.
Donald Trump
Campaign announcement date: November 2022
The divisive former president is the leading Republican candidate despite his efforts to overturn his losing 2020 election. The primaries are just beginning and there won’t be any voting until early 2024, but Trump has worked hard to defeat his current main rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, overcome.
A major complication for Trump is his legal insecurity. His criminal trial will begin in New York for his alleged involvement in a secret cash payment scheme ahead of the 2016 election along with voting in the 2024 primary.
He could face additional charges, both at the federal level and in Fulton County, Georgia. But those investigations have been ongoing for years, and it’s not clear that the allegations have hurt his strength among many Republican voters.
Ron DeSantis
Campaign announcement date: May 24 on Twitter
While Trump and his supporters went to work hitting DeSantis with TV ads, the Florida governor was working to build a case in his home state.
Running on the heels of a landslide re-election victory in 2022, DeSantis used a Republican majority in the Florida legislature to enact measures related to restricting access to abortion, ending diversity education initiatives, restricting rights LGBTQ and more.
While he lacks Trump’s legal baggage, DeSantis also lacks Trump’s persona. Also, the event he did with Disney over a bill to limit the amount of time sexual orientation and gender identity can be discussed in schools has not gone as well as DeSantis had planned.
nikki haley
Nikki Haley stood up for the Confederate flag at an event in 2010.
Campaign announcement date: February 2023
Haley has a great resume. Elected governor of a southern state and chosen as Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, she would be the first woman and the first non-white Republican nominee if she can somehow get out of the race for the GOP nominee.
Much younger than Trump or President Joe Biden, Haley made age a central part of her campaign and advocated for some sort of age-based aptitude test: an interesting idea for scoring points against older candidates, but also a twist possible for primary voters. in a party that skews older.
Stay tuned: CNN will host a live forum with Haley on June 4 in Iowa.
Tim Scott
Date of announcement of the campaign: May 2023
The senator from South Carolina is the only black Republican in the United States Senate. He has taken the strangeness of his biography to argue that it affects the story of American politics.
While appealing to conservatives, Scott has a history of working across party lines on police reform and more. But Trump, at least, didn’t see it as a threat. The former president, who mercilessly attacked DeSantis, congratulated Scott on running for the Republican nomination.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Date of announcement of the campaign: February 2023
Ramaswamy, a biotechnology and healthcare entrepreneur who also writes books against corporate “woke” ideology and identity, is an unlikely candidate, unknown to most Americans.
Asa Hutchison
Date of announcement of the campaign: April 2023
The former governor and congressman from Arkansas announced his campaign arguing against isolation and in favor of civilization on the campaign trail. Those messages are yet to continue in the polls.
Larry Elder
Campaign announcement date: April 2023
The conservative radio host has never held elective office, but he was the top-vote-getting Republican in the failed 2021 bid to impeach California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
more to come
Other Republicans are considering campaigns. Former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum also in single digits in CNN’s latest poll.
Polls show Trump about DeSantis very early now
DeSantis (26%) is a distant second to Trump (53%), according to a new national SSRS CNN poll of Republican and Republican voters released Wednesday.
Pence and Haley drew 6% support as their first choice.
Who could Republican voters support? You couldn’t support it?
There are some interesting points when you dig into the polling data, as CNN Political Director David Chalian explained on “Inside Politics.”
“We asked people, apart from their first choice, who they would be willing to support in this race,” said Chalian.
The results (currently the best option and who they would consider supporting) are slightly different:
DeSantis: 85%.
Trump: 84%.
Haley: 61%.
Scott: 60%.
Others: 54%.
That is good news for those candidates, argued Chalian. On the other hand, it’s bad news for the people most Republicans and Republican voters said they wouldn’t support:
Christie: 60% would not support it.
Hutchinson: 55%.
Sununu: 55%.
Keep in mind that the top three on the “Would Not Support” list, of which only Hutchinson has officially declared candidacy, are the most moderate voices in the party.
look at the movement
Chalian also looked at the track record of the candidates in the polls.
Trump won, from 40% support in potential GOP primary voters in March to 53% now.
DeSantis, before formally announcing his campaign, has fallen, from 36% support in March to 26% now.
That could mean the Republican race will ultimately be a test of who can take on Trump.