Former President Donald Trump's favorability is falling among ...

Donald Trump’s favorable rating in Oklahoma has dropped to 50%, according to a new poll that shows Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis within nine points of the ex-president among state Republicans in a hypothetical primary match-up.

Trump's 49.8% favorability among Oklahoma registered voters is the lowest measured in the Sooner Survey, conducted by Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass and Associates, of Oklahoma City. It is 16 points below Trump’s favorable rating in Oklahoma just before the 2020 presidential election, when Trump won all 77 counties in the state for a second time. His favorability was 55% in January 2021 and 54% in January 2022 as measured by the Sooner Survey.

Meanwhile, the former president's unfavorable rating has risen to 47%, according to the new survey, compared to 32% in 2020.

Pat McFerron, the president of CHS, said 70% of Oklahoma Republicans still view Trump favorably, but only 13% of state Democrats and 40% of independents have a favorable view of the ex-president, who is running again in 2024.  A large majority of Democrats and a slight majority of independents had an unfavorable opinion of Trump in the new poll.

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The latest survey was taken March 27-30, which was after media reports that Trump might be indicted by a Manhattan grand jury but before he was arraigned and the actual charges stemming from hush money payments became public.

The survey measured the views of 500 registered Republican, Democratic and independent voters for some questions. For GOP primary-related questions, a sample of 300 registered Republicans was surveyed.

The GOP-only questions showed Trump leads the field of prospective presidential contenders, with 38%. DeSantis, who hasn’t officially announced his 2024 candidacy, was second in the poll, with 29%. Former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley each had 6%. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had 4%. Undecided was 11% in the survey.

Cruz won the 2016 Republican presidential primary in Oklahoma, with 34%, while Trump finished second with 28%.

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The new poll shows 30% of GOP voters solidly committed to Trump and another 18% determined to vote for someone else, with most of the rest still hedging. Two-thirds of the GOP voters are most concerned with nominating a candidate who can beat President Joe Biden next year.

“I think that’s the really interesting thing here: We have a large percentage of Oklahoma Republicans who are inclined to vote for Donald Trump but say beating Biden is the most important factor … You’ve got that conflict voters are very concerned about," McFerron said Friday. "The other thing happening there is DeSantis appeals to a lot of those Trump folks. He’s a competitor, but he’s not a contrast.”

Oklahoma’s presidential primaries are set for March 5, 2024.