Things are getting sticky for Ron DeSantis in the Tar Heel State.
New polling of 445 likely voters in the North Carolina Republican Presidential Primary, conducted between Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, shows the Florida Governor in third place, now trailing the former Governor of neighboring South Carolina and a former President.
Donald Trump dominates with 63% support, leading Nikki Haley (13%) and DeSantis (10%) in the survey from East Carolina University’s (ECU) Center for Survey Research.
While North Carolina apportions its 75 delegates proportionally after its March Primary, the current trend suggests Trump will get the majority of them, with other candidates battling for scraps.
The ECU poll tracks with other surveys showing a DeSantis slump in the state.
In an early November Meredith College survey of 355 registered voters, DeSantis had 14% support, good for second place then, yet 37 points behind Trump.
Another recent survey of the race, an October poll from the John Locke Foundation, showed DeSantis 40 points behind Trump and just 1 point ahead of Haley in the state.
The Governor has been endorsed by 19 public officials in the state. State Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger Jr. is on board, as are state Sens. Danny Britt, Jim Burgin and Bobby Hanig. State Reps. Jennifer Balkcom, Allen Chesser, Kevin Crutchfield, Kenneth Fontenot, Keith Kidwell, Jarrod Lowery, Jeff McNeely, Dennis Riddell, Steve Ross, Jason Saine, Wayne Sasser, Sam Watford, David Willis and Matthew Winslow are also endorsing.
DeSantis has traveled to the state this cycle, even addressing local issues, though that doesn’t seem to have helped him in polls.
During his most recent appearance in North Carolina, the Governor made news by vowing to restore “the name of Fort Bragg to our great military base in Fayetteville, North Carolina.”
“And thank the people that have served there. And they’re proud of their service there. It’s an iconic name and iconic base. We’re not going to let political correctness run amok in North Carolina,” DeSantis said to cheers.
Fort Bragg was renamed “Fort Liberty” on the recommendation of the Department of Defense’s Commission on the Naming of Items. The goal was to change names of facilities “that commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.”
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