Poll: Ron DeSantis falls to third place in Ohio

GIRARD, OH — AUGUST 19: Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida speaks at the Unite and Win Rally that also featured Ohio Republican nominee for US Senate J.D. Vance, August 19, 2022, at the Metroplex Expo Center in Girard, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal)

Florida’s Governor has talked up his Rust Belt ties, but new polling shows they aren’t as strong as steel after all, in Ohio at least.

The bad news from the Buckeye State comes from a survey from the Buckeye Values PAC, which shows Ron DeSantis at 11%, 50 points behind Donald Trump and 4 points behind Nikki Haley.

Haley has traded places with DeSantis in the order of candidates in this poll, gaining 4 points since October while DeSantis dropped 3 points. Trump was at 59% in October and is at 61% in the December survey of 600 likely voters conducted between Dec. 12 and Dec. 14.

The Ohio Republican Party is already endorsing Trump, making the unusual decision to do so ahead of the state’s Presidential Primary on March 19, an event when 78 delegates will be allocated to the winner.

Other polls show Trump trampling the competition.

A November Emerson College Poll of 468 Republican voters shows that 8% who intend to participate in the state’s GOP Presidential Primary on March 19 plan to vote for the Florida Governor, putting him in third place behind Haley. Trump had 62% support in the same survey.

Ohio Northern University (ONU) released a poll last month that showed the Governor with 10% support, which was good for second at the time.

DeSantis has made political appearances in Ohio this year, albeit before the formal launch of his presidential campaign. He visited the state while South Florida was dealing with historic flooding in the Spring.

The Governor, addressing the Butler County Republican Party at its Lincoln Day Dinner, said in April he represented “Ohio values.”

“I can stand here representing Ohio values because the two most important women in my life (are from Ohio),” DeSantis said. “My mother is from Youngstown and my wife is from Troy, and so my family reflects your family.”