Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has slipped in the New Hampshire presidential polls, falling behind all major GOP primary candidates, the latest sign that his campaign may be taking a nosedive heading into the 2024 election season.
A CNN/University of New Hampshire poll released Tuesday found DeSantis polling with just 5% of the vote, behind former President Donald Trump with 39%, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley at 32%, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with 12%, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy with 8%.
Support for DeSantis was already declining in New Hampshire last year, with the Florida governor trailing Christie and Haley in November. He has experienced a notable decline into single-digit polling, adding to a growing list of concerns that his campaign may be too far gone to recover.
Though 45% of respondents are undecided, leaving room for shifts in the New Hampshire primary, 36% of those whose first choice is neither Haley nor Trump would pick Haley as the second choice, and 30% would pick Trump. Those backing Christie would break to Haley, with 65% saying they would support her if Christie were not in the race.
DeSantis’s approval rating in the state has fallen considerably, with just 29% favoring him, down from 44% in the early fall of 2023. At the time of his campaign launch, strategists, lawmakers, and voters predicted DeSantis might give Trump something to worry about. But now, Haley continues to be Trump’s most formidable opponent in the Granite State and has her eyes set on clinching the victory in late January with the help of independent voters.
The New Hampshire poll comes the same day that DeSantis is putting a brief pause on his campaign schedule and heading back to Florida to deliver his annual State of the State address to the legislature that significantly boosted his presidential campaign. His trip is expected to be short before he turns around and heads back to Iowa, where the caucuses are set to take place in less than a week. He and Haley will participate in a debate on CNN on Wednesday.
Several Republican lawmakers, the lieutenant governor, education commissioner, and attorney general are planning to follow him from Florida to Iowa this weekend, according to CNN. The group will campaign for the governor and share details of DeSantis’s political victories in their state on caucus night.
However, Republican allies are anticipating that the governor may return home sooner than expected.
“Everybody in Tallahassee thinks that Iowa will put the knife in him and New Hampshire will twist the knife,” one longtime Tallahassee Republican operative and lobbyist told the outlet.
Republican state Rep. Randy Fine, who flipped his endorsement from DeSantis to Trump last year, said those who went against DeSantis are anticipating payback.
“What I know is he spent five years getting ready to run for president, and I don’t know if he will know what to do next,” Fine said. “Path one is to look to punish all of the people who he believes have wronged him, and path two will look and say what went wrong and try to rebuild things.”
Florida Democrats have been quick to capitalize on DeSantis’s sinking campaign, blasting their colleagues for using the legislature to aid the governor’s presidential ambitions.
“The unfortunate part is all of this was done at the expense of people’s lives — Black people’s lives, immigrants’ lives, LGBTQ people’s lives — all for you to have a failing campaign,” Democratic state Sen. Shevrin Jones reportedly said. “You wasted everyone’s time, including yours.”
DeSantis has brushed off concerns that his campaign is in its final stages or that he is out of the GOP race if he doesn’t win or place second at the caucuses.
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“We’re in it for the long haul,” he said last week during an interview with NBC News and the Des Moines Register. “Don’t worry about that.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to DeSantis’s campaign for comment.
