DeSantis falls to fourth place behind Christie and Haley in New Hampshire: Poll

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), originally perceived as the toughest Republican primary challenger to former President Donald Trump, is falling from grace in key battleground states such as New Hampshire, with more candidates ahead of him in the polls than just Trump.

A new poll from 7News/Emerson College released on Wednesday found that 7% of voters would support DeSantis in the 2024 GOP primary, a significant decline from polling at 17% in March. Even former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has maintained relatively low polling numbers in most GOP battleground states, has surpassed DeSantis, with 9% of voters stating they would support the former New Jersey governor in the primary.

BIDEN-XI MEETING: CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION OF COVID-19 ORIGINS LOOMS OVER US-CHINA RELATIONS

Christie’s popularity in New Hampshire has largely remained the same over the last few months, as he received 9% and beat DeSantis for second place among contestants in the state in August. However, DeSantis’s gradual decline into single-digit polling behind Christie adds to a growing list of signs for the Florida governor that his campaign may be too far gone.

Considered a long-shot candidate, Christie has been scraping by in the polls, just managing to reach the donor and polling requirements to appear at the three Republican National Committee debates. DeSantis, who has comfortably managed to meet the RNC’s requirements, is appearing to lose the momentum he built in his campaign’s early efforts to trouble Trump. At the time, strategists, lawmakers, and voters predicted DeSantis might give the former president something to worry about.

Now, strategists and polls indicate that former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has taken the mantle from DeSantis as the most viable candidate to defeat Trump in the Republican primary, polling at second place in most early primary states. Of the non-Trump GOP presidential candidates, Haley is the only one who has experienced a sharp incline in popularity in New Hampshire. She went from 6% in March to 4% in August, shooting up to 18% in Wednesday’s poll.

“For the last year, we’ve been looking at Ron DeSantis/Donald Trump race, and now it looks like Nikki Haley is the alternative instead of Ron DeSantis at this point,” said Spencer Kimball, 7News/Emerson College pollster. “You know, about a year ago, Ron DeSantis was at 17%. Now he’s down to 7%. And when we look at a candidate like Nikki Haley, since August, she’s gone from 4% up to 18%.”

A hypothetical matchup between President Joe Biden and the Republican candidates is also telling as to which GOP nominee could fare the best against the Democratic president. Between Biden and DeSantis in New Hampshire, the president leads 46% to 38%, with 17% undecided.

Among the GOP candidates, Trump has the closest lead to Biden in New Hampshire, with Biden at 47% and the former president at 42%. But when third-party candidates Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are added, the race tightens, with 40% supporting Biden and 37% supporting Trump.

Haley is the only Republican whom Emerson College found would beat Biden in a head-to-head contest in the state, 45% to 39%. The former U.N. ambassador has recently begun poaching donors from her Republican rivals, luring in 250 contributors who donated at least $200 to other Republican campaigns, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of campaign finance records.

In DeSantis’s case, Haley had 87 new contributors to her campaign in the third quarter who previously gave at least $200 to the Florida governor. On the other side, DeSantis’s campaign lost significantly more donors to other campaigns in the third quarter than it poached.

“Yet another poll showing Nikki Haley is the best challenger to beat both Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” Ken Farnaso, spokesman for Haley, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “She is second in New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina and is the only candidate with upward momentum. Voters are rallying to Nikki’s strength and toughness while others continue to sink in the polls.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

DeSantis has also lost major donors to Christie since August. Paul Tudor Jones II wrote a $150,000 check to a pro-Christie super PAC, Tell It Like It Is, after supporting DeSantis’s campaign. At the end of the month, Jones also gave $6,600 to Christie’s campaign committee, per the Tampa Bay Times.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Christie’s and DeSantis’s campaigns for comment.