A new poll from Iowa suggests Ron DeSantis is closer to the pack at the back of the race than he is to the former President.
The Emerson College Poll shows the Florida Governor with 14% support, 35 points behind Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, DeSantis has a 6-point lead over U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, and a 7-point lead over Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump and DeSantis have lost their edge over the three candidates behind them during that period.
“Trump’s support has decreased 13 points, from 62% to 49%. DeSantis dropped six points, from 20% to 14%, Scott’s support increased five points, from 3% to 8%, Haley’s support increased two points, from 5% to 7%, and Ramaswamy five points, from 2% to 7%,” a polling memo accompanying the results reads.
Polling director Spencer Kimball notes a divide in support for the candidates based on voters’ educational levels.
“Trump holds the majority of support among voters without a college degree, but his support decreases to 28% among those whose highest level of education is a college degree, and 27% with a postgraduate degree. Twenty-four percent of those with a college degree support DeSantis, but the Florida Governor’s support drops to 16% among postgraduates with Haley earning 20% of this vote.”
Meanwhile, Trump voters say they are least likely to consider other candidates.
“Trump supporters are the most likely to stick with their candidate as 79% say they will definitely vote for the former President, while just 21% say they could change their mind,” Kimball noted. “Conversely, 71% of Scott voters, 70% of Haley, 56% of DeSantis and 46% of Ramaswamy voters say there is a chance they could change their mind and vote for a different candidate.”
Though this poll suggests DeSantis isn’t especially competitive with Trump, the Governor is undaunted, calling himself a “clear second under any metric.”
“Everybody else is in single digits,” DeSantis said Wednesday on the Rubin Report. “I wouldn’t trade places with anyone in Iowa right now.”
During that interview, the Governor made the case that he’s better positioned at this point in the race than previous Iowa caucus winners.
“We’ve actually had a huge amount of success in Iowa. I mean, if you look back at previous election cycles and find where the Iowa caucus winner was in the summer, people like Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum, they were polling at like 5 or 6%,” DeSantis related.
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