Poll: Ron DeSantis trails Donald Trump by 32 points in Iowa

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Florida’s Governor is continuing to trail Donald Trump in Iowa, widely seen as a pivotal state where Ron DeSantis has bet most of his campaign chips.

In a new poll released by the Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom, DeSantis faces a 32-point deficit among 502 Iowa Republicans polled.

Trump is at his high point this cycle, with 51% support. DeSantis has 19% backing and Nikki Haley is at 16% in the Hawkeye State. The Governor’s 3-point lead over Haley is inside the survey’s +/- 4.4-percentage-point margin of error.

No one else has more than 5% support.

“The field may have shrunk, but it may have made Donald Trump even stronger than he was,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, as reported by the Register. “I would call his lead commanding at this point. There’s not much benefit of fewer candidates for either Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley.”

DeSantis supporters don’t seem sold that Trump can’t win a General Election, which has been a central argument by the Florida Governor. Just 59% believe the former President can defeat Joe Biden.

DeSantis’ play for evangelical voters hasn’t paid off either, with Trump still leading by 25 points among that key demographic, 51% to 26%.

Meanwhile, there’s a troubling sign that the Florida Governor’s support is soft, with only 30% of his supporters saying they are unwavering in their DeSantis backing, and only 16% describing themselves as enthusiastic about him.

DeSantis is still the top second choice, with 30% seeing him as their backup candidate. If the front-runner were weaker, that may matter more.

Overall, though, the Governor’s flat performance reinforces other polling that suggests Iowa isn’t particularly competitive despite months of concerted effort that includes DeSantis visiting all Hawkeye State counties.

“We’ve got the organization, we’ve got the grassroots, and really our task is to bring this in for a landing over the next five weeks. I can tell you that the interest in this has definitely picked up, because we’ve been here for many months coming. I think the last month or so the interest is picking up. And I think people are taking this process very, very seriously,” he said on Fox News Saturday.

“They certainly don’t believe a lot of what they hear in some of the national media that somehow we shouldn’t even have a Primary. They want to have this caucus, and they want their voice to be heard.”