Almost 60% of Hillsdale faculty, staff, and students said they favor Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over former President Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination, according to a Collegian survey. Of those surveyed, only a quarter said they would choose Trump.

Trump announced his third presidential campaign from his home in Palm Beach, Florida on Nov. 15.

“There’s never been anything like it, this great movement of ours,” Trump said. “America’s comeback starts right now.”

Another 18% of those surveyed said they would prefer another candidate over Trump or DeSantis.

More than half of Hillsdale students, faculty, and staff surveyed said they would not support a presidential run from Trump in 2024.

The remaining half was split between a positive reaction to his campaign and a “maybe” response to supporting Trump’s third run.

DeSantis has not announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. Regarding his potential presidential run, 23% of respondents replied that they would not support it, and 25% answered maybe.

The survey, included in the Student Activities Office biweekly newsletter, received a total of 166 anonymous responses. It first appeared in the newsletter on Nov. 17, and results were collected through Nov. 30.

Senior John Paul Schlueter said he plans to support Trump in 2024.

“DeSantis was largely ineffective when he was a congressman, and while I have hopes for a future DeSantis ticket, I believe Trump is the man for the job in 2024,” Schlueter said.

Schlueter said Trump’s name is polarizing.

“Republicans have failed to communicate their ideology convincingly, in part because the GOP does not speak as strongly about issues as the Democrats,” Schlueter said.

“The GOP has low moral standing following COVID, and it remains in an identity crisis over Trump.”

Junior Avery Noel, co-president of College Democrats, said the 2022 midterm results revealed many Americans will not support Trump again, but he also believes the former president still holds strong support within the Republican Party.

“Many Republicans have expressed that they will only vote for Trump or someone endorsed by him,” Noel said. “With that in mind, I believe he will be the Republican nominee for 2024 over Ron DeSantis but that he will lose to President Biden.”

President of College Republicans and senior Dan Harmon said he prefers DeSantis as the 2024 Republican candidate.

“Right now Trump is not popular in College Republican circles across the state, and it seems that they are rallying around DeSantis,” Harmon said. “It remains to be seen if DeSantis will run, but I certainly think he can win in a primary. It’s still very early, so we’ll see.”