Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign has encountered further challenges as the latest national GOP poll reveals a decline in his support. The poll, conducted by GOP pollster Cygnal, indicates that DeSantis has officially fallen to third place in the race, with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy now claiming second place.
What National GOP Poll Data Reveals:
According to the survey, Ramaswamy has secured 11 percent of support among likely general election voters, surpassing DeSantis who stands at 10 percent. Both candidates, however, lag significantly behind former President Donald Trump, who commands a formidable 53 percent support among GOP voters.
This shift in rankings reflects a growing pessimism among a subset of GOP voters who appear to be exploring alternatives to DeSantis’s candidacy.
The poll further reveals that DeSantis’s support has dwindled to a mere 10 percent, a notable decline from his previous standing. The Florida Governor finds himself trailing Vivek Ramaswamy, indicating that recent strategic changes and campaign shake-ups have not been successful in stemming DeSantis’s decline in support.
“Vivek started this campaign with zero name ID and didn’t even register in most polls. He’s just getting warmed up,” a confident Ramaswamy campaign told The Star-News Network Thursday.
DeSantis’s support has seen a substantial erosion of 19 points since March of this year. The majority of this decline has been captured by Ramaswamy, who now polls at 11 percent, and former President Donald Trump, who maintains a commanding lead at 53 percent. Notably, it’s worth mentioning that Cygnal VP Brock McCleary also serves as the pollster for the Ramaswamy campaign.
Despite the challenges, DeSantis’s competitors remain in the single digits, including fourth-place candidate Mike Pence with support of 6.6 percent. Cygnal’s polling memo underscores DeSantis’s decline, noting that the Governor’s support has plummeted from an earlier 29 percent in March.
An analysis of the crosstabs from the poll reveals specific areas where DeSantis is facing difficulties, most notably among Black voters. A mere 2 percent of Black voters back DeSantis, placing him behind other candidates including Trump, Ramaswamy, Pence, Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Larry Elder, and Ryan Binkley. This suggests that DeSantis’s stance on slavery and its impact on enslaved people isn’t resonating with Black Republican voters.
While the poll findings provide valuable insights, they come with a few caveats. Notably, Cygnal pollster Brock McCleary, who wasn’t involved in the Thursday poll, also serves as Ramaswamy’s pollster, as highlighted by the firm’s press release.
The poll also deviates notably from national polling on the issue of abortion. While the survey claims that 56 percent of voters favor a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, an AP-NORC poll from late July indicates a different sentiment, with 51 percent of the country supporting legal abortion up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, including a majority of Democrats.
In essence, the poll adds to a growing trend of challenges for the DeSantis campaign. The perception of decline is bolstered by Cygnal’s Chris Lane, who emphasizes that the trend of declining support for DeSantis has been observed over the past six months.
Amidst the horse race numbers, a notable takeaway emerges: 26 percent of Democrats support an impeachment probe into President Biden’s alleged influence peddling. This statistic underscores broader concerns about media bias and political gamesmanship, indicating a growing issue for the President.
The polls also highlight that Republicans are narrowing the gap with women and making modest gains among Independents. The generic ballot remains evenly split, tied at 45 percent.
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