Rasmussen Poll Shows DeSantis Losing Ground

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination continues to slide in the latest Rasmussen poll, as he plunged to a tie for third place with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The poll released Tuesday showed former President Donald Trump with a commanding lead of 51% of those who were asked which candidate they would vote for if the GOP presidential primary were held today.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, was next with 13%, followed by DeSantis and Christie at 9% each and Vivek Ramaswamy at 1%, with 16% saying they were undecided.

The survey of 792 Likely Republican primary voters was conducted Dec. 19-21 and has a margin of error of plus/minus 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

In Rasmussen’s poll in February, DeSantis was favored by 20% of those surveyed, with Trump at 47%. But since declaring his intention in May to run for the 2024 GOP nomination, DeSantis’ support among Republicans has steadily shrunk.

In November, Trump was supported by 50% of GOP primary voters, according to Rasmussen. Haley and Christie have gained ground since and DeSantis has faded. Trump is dominating the field in the FiveThirtyEight average of polling at 62.4%, with DeSantis second at 11.7% and Haley at 10.9%.

DeSantis has been campaigning heavily in Iowa for the Jan. 15 caucus that kicks off the GOP primary season. He is hoping to pull off a major upset to breathe life into his campaign, even though FiveThirtyEight’s polling average shows him trailing Trump by a wide margin in Iowa.

Among those who said they’re at least somewhat likely to vote in their state’s GOP primary, Trump is supported by more men (55%) than women (48%). A majority of primary voters 40 and older choose Trump, and among those under 40, Trump has 38% to 20% for DeSantis and 11% for Haley.