Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has jumped into second place with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Iowa, a new poll shows, while former President Donald Trump is still well ahead of his two main rivals.
A Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa poll showed Trump, 77, with the support of 43% of likely Republican caucus attendees, up one percentage point from the same poll in late August.
DeSantis, 45, and Haley, 51, each trailed with 16% support – a 10 percentage point increase for Haley and a three percentage point decrease for DeSantis from the previous poll.
No other candidate reached double digits, with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) at 7% — while biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie checked in at 4% each.
“You just exist [Haley] increased. You have DeSantis kind of holding on for second place,” J. Ann Selzer, president of polling firm Selzer & Co., told the Des Moines Register. “But both of them are on what you can only describe as shaky ground compared to the solid ground that Donald Trump is on.
Nikki Haley is up 10% in the polls and is now tied with Ron DeSantis.
“If anything, he’s showing improvement.”
Nearly two-thirds, 63%, of Trump supporters said their minds were made up to support the 45th president, although 54% of all likely GOP caucus attendees said they could be persuaded to support someone other than their first choice, and only 41% of that cohort said their choice was made.
In fact, as Jay Cost of the American Enterprise Institute points out on X, the survey shows that only 27% of likely Iowa Republican caucus participants is in the Trump camp.
When asked for their second choice, 27% of likely caucusgoers said DeSantis, 17% said Haley, 12% said Trump, 10% said Scott and 9% said Ramaswamy.
Ron DeSantis is down 3% since August, according to the poll.
The former president also had the largest share of “very favorable” ratings among poll respondents at 42%, compared to DeSantis’ 29% and Haley’s 25%.
“It’s this solid reasoning that makes people want to say he’s unbeatable,” Selzer told the Trump Register.
Both DeSantis and Haley have plowed resources into their Iowa campaign operations in hopes of overtaking Trump in the Jan. 15 caucuses.
Donald Trump continues to lead the entire GOP field.REUTERS
Haley and DeSantis have recently stepped up their attacks on each other over the Israel-Hamas war, and both have spent significant retail political time in the Hawkeye State. The DeSantis campaign sees a win in the state as a way for voters to see a race between him and Trump, and plans to hit all 99 Iowa counties to drum up support.
“Nikki Haley is currently in second place in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Time to start talking about a two-person, one-man, one-woman race,” Haley spokesman Ken Farnaso said in response to the poll.
Former Vice President Mike Pence dropped out of the race on Saturday after failing to gain traction in the competitive field. Polls show Pence at 2%, down from 6% in August.
The Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll surveyed 404 likely Republican caucus participants by phone from Oct. 22 to 26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9%.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
