Donald Trump is leading the race to secure the Republican presidential nomination with 47 percent approval rating among his party, compared to 19 percent for Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The seven-day poll, which ended on Monday, showed Trump, who served as US president from 2017 to 2021, has increased his approval rating among Republicans from 43% in a Reuters poll/ Ipsos in June.

The rest of the party’s nominees are trailing by a wide margin: Vivek Ramaswamy, a former biotech executive, is said to be garnering 9% in the poll, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence at 7%.

Ramaswamy, who had just 3 percent support in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in June, is pouring a huge amount of his fortune into promoting his candidacy.

On Saturday, he revealed that he has invested about $15 million in his campaign.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which polled 4,414 online adults nationwide, showed a close battle for the November 2024 election if Trump faces Democratic incumbent Joe Biden, who is seeking re-election and is not expected to to encounter serious resistance to claiming the anointing within his party.

In a hypothetical matchup between them, Biden appears ahead of Trump with 37% to 35% with the remaining 28% of respondents saying they are either undecided, or will vote for someone else or nobody.

Neither Biden nor Trump were widely liked by respondents outside their parties. Just 31% of independent respondents had a favorable view of Trump and 32% of Biden.

At 80, Biden is the oldest US president to hold the White House, and 63% of Democrats polled agree he is too old to be there, while 37% disagree.

Still, Biden leads the Democratic nomination race by a wider margin than Trump within the Republican Party: 63% of Democrats support him compared to just 15% for anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.