Poll: Ron DeSantis reaches a new low in Pennsylvania, with 14% support in GOP Primary

Gov. Ron DeSantis has asserted a cultural affinity with Pennsylvania, but the state’s Republicans seem to be saying they want Donald Trump as President.

The new Franklin & Marshall (F&M) Poll shows the former President with 55% support, his high-water mark by far in this outfit’s polling. DeSantis, at 14%, is at his low point since F&M’s first poll of this field in April 2023, before his formal launch.

Back then, Trump only led DeSantis 40% to 34%.

But with this poll as with so many others, the prospect of a DeSantis presidential campaign apparently was more exciting than the reality for Republican voters. By the time this survey was in the field in August, Trump’s lead had tripled from the spring’s 6-point spread to a 39% to 21% advantage.

If there is good news for DeSantis, it’s that he still holds second place, albeit with serious competition, as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has surged to 9%, up 4 points from August.

This is the second straight poll this autumn to show a Pennsylvania plunge for DeSantis, who has asserted a familial connection to Pennsylvania. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted between Sept. 28 and Oct. 3 shows DeSantis, who held a quarter of committed voters a few months ago, now commands the loyalty of 14%.

Another poll, this one from the summer, reflects the same slide for the Florida Governor.

An August poll from the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College showed Trump ahead of the Governor, 39% to 23%. In the previous iteration of that survey, Trump only led by 6 points.

All told, DeSantis looks poorly positioned to take the state’s trove of 67 delegates, allocated on a winner-take-all basis.

DeSantis took a trip to the Keystone State earlier this year, before he launched his campaign formally. The Governor addressed Republicans at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in Harrisburg, offering largely familiar remarks in a speech that was well-received by the GOP faithful.

In recent months, DeSantis has played up his roots in the Rust Belt regions of Pennsylvania and neighboring Ohio as being key to surviving the left-wing crucibles of Yale and Harvard Law School.

He offered a reminiscence in his best-selling book, “The Courage to be Free.”

“I was geographically raised in Tampa Bay,” DeSantis writes, “but culturally my upbringing reflected the working-class communities in western Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio — from weekly church attendance to the expectation that one would earn his keep. This made me God-fearing, hard-working and America-loving.”