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Former US President Donald Trump would easily defeat Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by 13 points in a hypothetical head-to-head contest for the Republican presidential nomination, a Wall Street Journal survey released on Friday said.

In December, the poll showed DeSantis beating the former president by 14 points, 52% to 38%.

However, the new survey sees Trump winning by a similar landslide of 51% to 38%.

According to the results, Trump also leads all rivals in a prospective field of 12 Republican candidates, with 48% support to DeSantis' 24%.

Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley (5%) and senator Tim Scott (3%), respectively, are in their wake. All other candidates received 2% or less of the vote.

Between April 11 and 17, Impact Research and Fabrizio, Lee & Associates conducted the survey. There was a plus or minus 4% error margin.

It was reported earlier in April that more than a whopping 50% of Republicans are fully prepared to support former US President Donald Trump's return to the presidential arena during the next elections scheduled for 2024, as per a YouGov poll.

What's shocking is that more than half of these voters are willing to support him despite the fact that he has fraud and legal cases racking up against him and amid his most recent indictment. 

Trump issued a statement last week referring to the indictment as a "witch-hunt, and adding that the move was an attempt by Democrats to meddle in the 2024 election.

According to the poll results, 52% of Republican supporters are ready to vote for Trump, followed by support for running candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with 21%.

According to Axios, Trump has the support of 37 House Republicans, including nine of the 25 Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and 11 of the 26 Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, which could significantly boost Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump, who is now facing 34 felony counts in Manhattan for allegedly fabricating transactions connected to unlawful "catch and kill" payments in a plan to conceal bad headlines about him before the 2016 election, declared his bid for the presidency in 2024 in November.

DeSantis is likely to announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 once the Florida legislative session concludes in May. 

In a separate but related poll, it was shown on Tuesday that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis leads President Biden in at least two crucial swing states, while former President Donald Trump is behind the President.

The Public Opinion Strategies poll, conducted from April 11 to 13, indicates that in a hypothetical battle between Joe Biden and DeSantis in Arizona and Pennsylvania, the Florida governor would win, but Biden would beat Trump in both states. 

Biden, 80, has stated his intention to compete for re-election in 2024, but he has yet to officially open his campaign.