New poll suggests Trump would have little trouble getting past potential primary opponents

A new poll has revealed that it is unlikely that Donald Trump will face a serious threat from a Republican looking to take on the president in a primary election ahead of 2020.

While Trump outlasted the rest of a crowded field to get the Republican nomination en route to the presidency in 2016, a poll from The Hill shows that any possible challenger Trump may face from within the GOP will be easily dealt with.

Possible challengers to Trump from within his party include Ben Sasse and Jeff Flake, who are both vocal critics of the president. Flake recently opted not to seek re-election in Arizona while Sasse's term ends in 2020. Another who is being touted as a potential challenger is John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio.

However, none of those three would come close to defeating Trump, according to this poll.

Also in the poll was Nikki Haley, who announced her resignation as UN Ambassador last month. While she was a vocal critic of Trump during the 2016 election cycle,

2020 National Republican Primary:
Trump 70% (+62)
Sasse 8%
.
Trump 70% (+61)
Flake 9%
.
Trump 69% (+56)
Haley 13%
.
Trump 67% (+53)
Kasich 14%@Harris_X_/@HillTVLive 11/16-17https://t.co/7dhSx1InPB pic.twitter.com/2LT7yEcDIA

— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) November 23, 2018

Three who performed better in the poll (but who are still a long way off reaching the general election ahead of Trump) are 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney (19%), his vice-president pick from six years ago, Paul Ryan (20%) and Ted Cruz (17%).

2020 National Republican Primary:
Trump 69% (+50)
Romney 19%
.
Trump 66% (+49)
Cruz 17%
.
Trump 65% (+45)
Ryan 20%@Harris_X_/@HillTVLive 11/16-17https://t.co/7dhSx1InPB

— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) November 23, 2018

Of the three, Ryan performed best but the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who opted not to seek re-election this month so will leave the post at Christmas, is still 45 percentage points behind the president.

After citing family reasons for not standing for election in 2018, it is unlikely that Ryan will jump straight back into politics immediately.

Romney was just elected into the Senate in Utah and Cruz survived a close call to keep his seat in Texas.

Meanwhile, it looks like it will be a crowded field to try to win the Democratic nomination. It is expected that challengers will begin to throw their hats in the ring publicly in the coming months, with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris in the early front-running with O'Rourke, who lost his Senate election to Ted Cruz also popular among many Democrats.