Another New Hampshire poll finds Ron DeSantis in fourth place

DeSantis NH NBD
DeSantis performs worst in the Manchester region, where he musters a minuscule 2% support.

When it comes to the first-in-the-nation Primary, Florida’s Governor may finish out of the money.

That’s the sobering conclusion to be drawn from a fresh survey from the University of New Hampshire.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is in fourth place in the CNN New Hampshire Primary Poll, 1 point ahead of fifth place Vivek Ramaswamy and decisively behind former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (14%), former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (20%), and former President Donald Trump, who leads the field with 42% support.

“DeSantis continues to decline in the eyes of New Hampshire Republicans,” reads a write-up contextualizing the nasty numbers. “He led the GOP field in January with 43%.”

DeSantis performs worst in the Manchester region, where he musters a minuscule 2% support. He’s little better off in the Seacoast area, with 5% backing.

In even grimmer news, DeSantis could have further to fall yet.

Only 15% of DeSantis supporters are definitely committed to their choice, compared to 25% of Christie backers, 27% of Haley enthusiasts, 61% of Ramaswamy rooters, and 82% of those backing the former President.

New Hampshire Republican Primary voters also see the Florida Governor as an unlikely winner in November 2024, in the event he gets the nomination. Just 5% believe he has what it takes to carry the GOP back to the White House in the General Election.

There also is clear doubt that DeSantis has what it takes to accomplish GOP priorities. Just 7% of respondents see him as best in the field to handle the Gaza War, 6% of all respondents (and 4% of women) see him as the man to hash out the abortion issue, and 5% trust him most when it comes to the economy.

One positive for DeSantis is that he is still the top second choice, with 19% of all respondents seeing him as their fallback option. That said, it’s exceedingly unlikely the field narrows between now and the Jan. 23 Primary.

And in the event he got the nomination, only 24% of respondents say they would be enthusiastic about his candidacy, while 28% say they wouldn’t vote for him under any circumstances (which is actually worse than afterthought Asa Hutchinson’s 27%).

Correlating to that data point, he’s actually underwater with GOP Primary voters in the Granite State, as 38% have a favorable impression of DeSantis while 39% are sour on the Governor.

DeSantis is also not seen as a winner of last week’s GOP presidential debate in Miami.

Just 10% of respondents say he prevailed, with 28% choosing Ramaswamy and 37% hailing Haley’s performance.

That said, this isn’t the worst recent poll for the Florida Governor in New Hampshire.

That dubious distinction belongs to the new Emerson College Polling/WHDH poll of New Hampshire voters, which finds the Florida Governor having slumped to 7%.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


7 comments

  • PeterH

    November 16, 2023 at 12:53 pm

    New Hampshire is a bellwether indicator for Republican voters in the Republican Primary…..in the General Election it’s a different story.

  • Burying the lead

    November 16, 2023 at 1:06 pm

    The article fails to actually state the DeSantis result, other than saying it’s above 7% and that he’s one point ahead of Vivek, whose figure is also not provided! Wow.

    • Ben Rouleau

      November 17, 2023 at 3:55 am

      Good observation. I had to look up the results which were: Trump’s advantage in New Hampshire remains short of the majority support he garners in primary polling nationally: 42% say they would vote for him, followed by Haley at 20%, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 14%, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 9%, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 8%,

  • PeterH

    November 16, 2023 at 1:15 pm

    If Republicans and Independent voters are looking for an alternative to Trump……Maybe it’s time Manchin should enter the race as an independent.

    • Impeach Biden

      November 16, 2023 at 1:36 pm

      Manchin quite possibly wouldn’t get re-elected in West Virginia. That’s not an endorsed of someone that might run for national office.

      • TJC

        November 16, 2023 at 2:34 pm

        I agree. By golly, we do agree on some things!

  • My Take

    November 16, 2023 at 9:05 pm

    loser Loser LOSER !!

Comments are closed.


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