DeSantis CLOSES gap to Trump in Iowa by 14%: New poll shows Florida governor nearly HALVED ex-president’s lead in crucial state primary after rally tour with wife Casey
- Ron DeSantis is creeping up in the polls, now just 10% behind Trump
- From mid-to-late May, the Florida governor closed the gap to the ex-president by 14%
- Trump is still the clear front-runner, leading all 10 others
Internal polling from Ron DeSantis backers shows Florida governor gaining ground against primary competitor Donald Trump in the first-in-the-nation primary contest state of Iowa.
A new Never Back Down PAC survey shared with Axios DeSantis has closed the gap between leader Trump by 14 percent since his presidential announcement.
In mid-May, before DeSantis officially announced his presidential candidacy at a Twitter Spaces event with Elon Musk, he earned 24 percent in Iowa polls compared to Trump’s 48 percent — a 24 percent difference.
Just a few weeks later, after officially launching his campaign on May 24, the Florida governor earned 29 percent of likely Iowa caucus attendees, to Trump’s 39 percent.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis creeps up in the polls, now just 10% behind former Iowa President Donald Trump
From mid-May to the post-presidential announcement in late May, DeSantis closed the gap to Trump by 14 percent
Now the governor is in second place with only 10 percent between him and the former president, while the rest of the field falls further behind the two leaders.
But when the other candidates were taken out of the equation and DeSantis and Trump were placed in a head-to-head contest, the pro-DeSantis PAC found that the two Iowa leaders were actually tied — compared to the governor’s 14-point deficit in mid-May.
Zooming out to the national level, polls show that DeSantis is usually at least 20 points behind Trump, with the rest of the field failing to get into the double digits.
A new CNN poll, conducted the day of DeSantis’s announcement, found Trump to be 56 percent higher than DeSantis’s 26 percent.
The new Never Back Down poll stems from DeSantis’ first official campaign swing through early primaries states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. He will travel on to Nevada later in June.
Trump also went to Iowa last week, overlapping DeSanti’s swing.
Despite the optimistic showing from the main PAC backing DeSantis’ primary GOP bid, other polls show he hasn’t earned the expected post-announcement boost.
Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis joined her husband on his tour of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina last week — to bring star quality to the candidate’s first campaign sweep
Trump is still the clear front-runner in the 2024 Republican primary, commanding a commanding lead over all 10 other candidates
There are 11 candidates in the running so far, with at least two more waiting to be announced
A Morning Consult poll conducted after DeSantis entered the race showed his ranking only increased by 1 percent — and still trailing Trump by 38 percent.
DeSantis started the year with some early lead over Trump, but some pollsters claim his reluctance to announce his candidacy, and staying one foot in the race and one foot out, hurt him among voters.
There are already 11 candidates in the GOP primary race. Among those who actually earn some voting rights are former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and current South Carolina senator Tim Scott.
Other more likely candidates in the running include biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
Former Vice President Mike Pence filed the necessary paperwork Monday to bid for the White House — and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu revealed on the same day that he will not be in the race.
Others expected to enter the 2024 waters in the coming weeks include former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.