Nikki Haley SURGES in the Republican race: ANOTHER poll shows her in second place behind Trump as DeSantis continues to struggle in third

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley strengthened her second place in New Hampshire with a poll released Wednesday, in which she defeated Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by a whopping nine points.

A USA TODAY/Boston Globe/Suffolk poll shows Haley with the support of 19 percent of New Hampshire’s likely Republican primary voters.

Former President Donald Trump maintains his large lead and has the support of 49 percent of likely Republican primary voters in the Granite State.

DeSantis – once considered Trump’s biggest political threat – is now in third place with 10 percent support.

No other Republican candidate polls in double figures: Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gets 6 percent, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott both vote at 4 percent, and former Vice President Mike Pence and the North Dakota Governor Doug. Burgum is at 1 percent.

Although Trump is dominant, the poll found voters were about evenly split on whether winning the nomination was inevitable.

Forty-eight percent believed so, while another 44 percent said they did not.

The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percent.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they could change their minds before the primaries.

Haley is coming off two strong debate performances — and while DeSantis also received high marks for his performance on the debate stage in Simi Valley last week, early state polls so far haven’t shown him taking a hit.

Instead, Haley has become more dominant in New Hampshire — which will host the nation’s first Republican primaries next year — with the Polling Average for Real Clear Politics which puts her firmly in second place.

She has defeated DeSantis in the last four of five polls in New Hampshire.

Haley began topping Florida’s governor in New Hampshire polls late last month and her lead continues to grow.

The averages show that Trump has 45 percent support, Haley 14.2 percent and DeSantis 10.4 percent support.

According to the Real Clear Politics polling average, Christie is also in a better position than the USA Today poll – with a 9 percent rating among New Hampshire voters.

Christie has ignored Iowa – the state that will hold the first Republican caucuses on January 15, followed by the New Hampshire primaries shortly thereafter – and has focused solely on the Granite State.

Haley still has work to do in Iowa if she wants to emerge as Trump’s main opponent.

In the Hawkeye State, she is in a distant third place, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average: Trump is at 49.2 percent, DeSantis at 16 percent and Haley at 8.8 percent.

That said, New Hampshire has a tradition of choosing a different candidate than the one who wins the Iowa caucuses — for example, handing Trump his first victory in 2016, after Senator Ted Cruz won the caucuses.

In 2008, when former President Barack Obama stunned and won the Iowa caucuses, the Democratic primaries became a slog when New Hampshire voters chose Hillary Clinton instead.

The latest poll in South Carolina, which is hosting the South’s first primary, also includes good news for Haley, who served as the state’s governor from 2011 to 2017 before Trump picked her as his ambassador to the state. United Nations.

A questionnaire conducted by Winthrop University shows Trump is a clear favorite, currently drawing support from 51 percent of South Carolina voters.

Haley, however, has edged DeSantis — and is in second place with 17 percent support — compared to the Republican governor’s 12 percent.