Poll: Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis tied for second place in New Hampshire

While the race for first place in next year’s New Hampshire Republican Presidential Primary is not in doubt right now, the battle for second is a barnburner, with Florida’s Governor in the mix.

New polling from NMB Research of likely New Hampshire GOP Primary voters shows Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley tied for second place with 10%. The Competitiveness Coalition and the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy commissioned the survey, which was conducted between Aug. 26 and Aug. 31.

While both candidates are 37 points behind Donald Trump, they are just 2 points ahead of fourth place candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie.

If there is good news for the Florida Governor, it’s that he’s still the top backup selection: “DeSantis tops the second choice ballot, with 20% of voters saying he would be their second choice in the Primary. Ramaswamy is the second choice of 18% of voters, and Haley the second choice of 15%.”

DeSantis’ 10% in the poll overall is one of his weakest Granite State showings yet, but not the worst. Last month’s Echelon Insights poll showed DeSantis in fourth place with just 9% support. Another recent poll from Emerson College had DeSantis at 8%, 1 point below Christie and 41 points behind Trump.

Other polls show the Governor just above the 10% mark.

A survey conducted by the Manhattan Institute in July showed just 2 points separating the Florida Governor and the former New Jersey Governor, with both men in low double digits. DeSantis stood at just 13%, 2 points up on Christie’s 11%.

A July survey commissioned by American Greatness and conducted by National Research Inc., had DeSantis with 11% support, 30 points behind Trump and just 3 points up on Christie and Scott.

The American Pulse survey conducted between July 5 and July 11 showed Trump with 48% and DeSantis with 10.5%, just half a point above Christie’s 10%.