Ron DeSantis firmly in third place in new national poll of GOP presidential primary

A new survey from Donald Trump’s preferred pollster suggests the Florida Governor is locked into third place for now in the GOP presidential race.

The McLaughlin poll conducted from Aug. 15 through Aug. 23 shows Ron DeSantis with 9% support, behind both Trump (51%) and Vivek Ramaswamy (13%).

DeSantis lost 4 points from the previous poll, while Ramaswamy gained 5, resulting in them swapping positions.

All other candidates are below 5%, so DeSantis is not in danger of losing his third-place position soon.

McLaughlin polled a hypothetical two-way matchup also, and the results were unfavorable for DeSantis. Trump was the choice of 72% of respondents, with 50% of all Republicans definitely committed to him. DeSantis was the choice of 28% of respondents, with 10% of all Republicans definitely committed to him.

DeSantis performed best in the West region, where 60% of respondents preferred Trump and 40% wanted the Governor instead.

Trump takes 81% of those who voted for him in 2020. However, 86% of Joe Biden voters and 87% of those who voted for neither major party candidate prefer DeSantis.

Three-fourths of Republican registrants say they would vote for Trump, as do 3/5 of independent voters who plan to participate in GOP nominating contests next year.

DeSantis does best with White voters, with 29% support. Among Black voters, however, he has just 19%. And he has 22% backing among the Hispanic Republicans polled.

In a sign his co-branding with his wife Casey and his three children is working, married people are almost twice as likely to support DeSantis as not. While just 20% of singletons pick DeSantis over Trump, a full 37% of people in wedded bliss prefer Ron over the Don.

The polling also shows a gender gap. While 33% of male Republican Primary voters prefer DeSantis, only 22% of women back the Governor.