Poll: GOP voters say fighting "woke" ideology more important than stopping Social Security cuts

• He signed into law a ban on the instruction of gender and sexuality in elementary school, which was recently expanded to include middle and high school.
• He also signed the "Stop WOKE" Act which would ban classroom and corporate trainings that make students or employees feel discomfort over their race. (The bill has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.)

The big picture: Former President Trump has attacked DeSantis over his past support for changes to Social Security and Medicare.

• But 55% of Republicans say that fighting "woke ideology in our schools and businesses" is more important than protecting entitlement programs from cuts, per the Journal poll.
• 27% of Republican voters say protecting Social Security and Medicare benefits from cuts is more important to them.
• However, 49% of all voters said they would support a candidate who pledged to keep entitlements as they are rather than push for cuts.

Zoom out: The poll also shows DeSantis trailing Trump 51% to 38% among likely Republican voters in a hypothetical matchup.

• That's a marked change from December, when the Florida governor led led Trump 52% to 38% in a hypothetical matchup, per the WSJ.
• In a potential field of 12 Republican candidates, Trump wins 48% of support to DeSantis' 24% among likely Republican primary voters, 13% of which say they are undecided.

Methodology: The Journal poll was conducted April 11-17 by Impact Research and Fabrizio, Lee & Associates. The poll is based on a sample of 1,500 registered voters, with a margin of error of ± 2.5 percentage points.

• The margin of error was ±4 percentage points among a sample of 600 likely Republican primary voters.

Go deeper... The DeSantis conundrum