Despite early gains in New Hampshire, Ron DeSantis is down 10 points among Republican voters — giving former President Donald Trump an even bigger advantage.
According to a Saint Anselm poll released Tuesday, Trump is ahead in the early presidential primary with 47 percent support to DeSantis’ 19 percent.
The 28 percent gap between the two frontrunners is a departure from previous polls that showed DeSantis making some gains in New Hampshire.
Both Trump and DeSantis visited New Hampshire on Tuesday for dueling events.
The Florida governor made remarks in Hollis, New Hampshire, before opening the floor for voters to ask him city hall-style questions.
Meanwhile, Trump delivered remarks at the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women’s lunchtime fundraiser in Concord — about 40 miles from DeSantis. The ex-president then presided over the opening of his New Hampshire campaign headquarters in Manchester.
Former President Donald Trump (left) and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (right) held duel campaign events in New Hampshire on Tuesday
A new Saint Anselm poll of Republican voters in New Hampshire shows Trump has a 28% lead over DeSantis — a 10% increase from polls earlier this year
The Granite State is key in primary races as it holds the nation’s first election and could help set the tone after the Iowa primary.
No other candidate of the 12 additional Republicans in the crowded primary earned double-digit support in New Hampshire’s latest poll.
In the middle of the field, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie fell with six percent, former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley with five percent and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina with four percent.
More contenders falling even further behind in New Hampshire include biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson — all with two percent support each.
A sizable chunk of the field fell in the latest Saint Anselm poll after New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu ruled out a presidential bid after earning 14 percent in the polls in March.
Trump and DeSantis followed each other in early primary states and held their dueling campaign events on Tuesday.
The front-runner candidates received some criticism over the coincidence timing of their events.
What was once a relationship between Trump and DeSantis quickly turned sour when the two went head to head in the 2024 Republican primary
Other candidates are in New Hampshire this week, including longshot candidate Vivek Ramaswamy visiting a senior center in Londonderry on Tuesday night.
The New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women, which hosts Trump, issued a statement last week expressing disappointment with DeSantis’ campaign to plan a town hall around the same time as her own event.
DeSantis and Trump’s events on Tuesday morning are just 40 miles apart in the tiny northeastern state.
The hosting organization said Desantis was “trying to steal the focus” from their so-called Lilac Luncheon fundraiser. They claimed that other candidates planned around the event and asked DeSantis to do the same.
“We are confident that the governor’s message will resonate with voters in New Hampshire as he continues to visit the Granite State and lay out his solutions to Joe Biden’s failures,” DeSantis campaign press secretary Bryan Griffin said. in a statement.
DeSantis sells himself as the more conservative nominee against Trump and tries to take control of the former president in key early contest states that could determine primary results.
The Florida governor has claimed he would appoint more conservative Supreme Court justices than the three Trump appointed to the court during his tenure, criticized Trump for suggesting Florida’s six-week abortion ban is “too strict” and accused the former president of ‘generally’ moving to the left.’
While conservative bona fides are important in heavy GOP states like Iowa, the leading caucus state, they are more politically tricky in New Hampshire, a state on the political battleground in the more liberal Northeast.
Trump finished first in the 2016 New Hampshire Republican primary after losing Iowa to Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
DeSantis visited the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, on Monday, where he unveiled a plan to deal with the migration crisis that closely mirrored what Trump has advanced in the past, such as building the border wall and ending the birthright.
But the governor argues that while Trump made good promises, he failed to deliver on them during his four years in office.
He claims he will actually deliver on his agenda – given the tremendous progress he has made in Florida over the past six years.
While leading in New Hampshire, Trump also maintains a huge lead in national polls with a new Morning Consult poll showing that 57 percent of Republican primary voters support the former president over one of the other 13 candidates in the busy field.
Second place is still DeSantis — but he lags Trump by a whopping 38 points with just 19 percent support.
No other candidate received double-digit support from Republican primary voters.
A new national Morning Consult poll released Tuesday shows Donald Trump has an ever-growing lead with 57% support among Republican primary voters
Former Vice President Mike Pence, one of the most recent entrants to the race, is third with 7 percent support and biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy is fourth with 6 percent.
The two candidates from South Carolina — Senator Tim Scott and former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley — are tied for fifth with three percent each.
Once-Gov. for New Jersey, Chris Christie has two percent and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson has only one percent.
No other candidate among the longshots reached 1 percent.
The Morning Consult survey was conducted June 23-25 of 3,650 voters registered to vote in the 2024 Republican primary.
Most other polls have produced similar results with Trump a distant leader, DeSantis second, several dozen points behind the former president, and the rest of the field trailing much further behind.