Ron DeSantis slides to 16%, third place in key Iowa poll
Image via AP.

AP Desantis Iowa snow
The Governor bet heavily on Iowa. It doesn't appear to be paying off.

Ron DeSantis is heading into the Iowa caucuses in third place.

In the final Des Moines Register poll ahead of Monday’s vote, the Florida Governor has 16%.

That puts him behind Nikki Haley (20%), and way behind Donald Trump (48%).

This poll, conducted Jan. 7-12 of 705 likely Republican caucusgoers, is the latest survey of the race to suggest that without some miracle, Trump will emerge the winner Monday evening.

And it raises existential questions about the path forward for the Florida Governor, who is drawing just 22% with evangelicals, a voting bloc he courted but is losing by nearly 30 points to Trump.

Haley and DeSantis were tied at 17% in an InsiderAdvantage poll released Friday, each with a third of Trump’s support. That was a better survey for the Governor than either of the two that came out on Thursday, both of which showed DeSantis down by 41 points.

The cold weather will be a factor, as has been pointed out by virtually all media coverage of Monday’s vote.

DeSantis says he’s confident that the work done over the last few months will bear fruit.

“Now with this weather, I think the organization is going to matter even more because going out in negative 20 degrees, unless you’re really committed to voting, that’s an easy reason why you wouldn’t want to go,” DeSantis told Sean Hannity Thursday.

Regardless of what happens, the campaign isn’t ending Monday night. A spokesman says to expect a “long” and “scrappy” effort going forward, and DeSantis will travel to South Carolina Tuesday, then to New Hampshire thereafter.

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


8 comments

  • Impeach Biden

    January 13, 2024 at 9:35 pm

    Gancarski’s zombies in 3, 2, 1.

    • The Villages of KKK

      January 14, 2024 at 4:34 am

      You poor Klan-member. Slavery is not coming back, you know?

      And thank President Biden for that <$3 gas.

      • Kelly Thirtyacre

        January 14, 2024 at 4:54 am

        Slavery isnt coming back, but something worst is. Ask yourself what form of communism you prefer. China, Russia, or Cubian. Wake up America

    • Dont Say FLA

      January 15, 2024 at 10:03 am

      Shooting the messengers won’t improve your candidate.

  • Trump’s Howler 🙈

    January 14, 2024 at 4:35 am

    You poor Trump-Howler Monkey 🙊

  • Michael K

    January 14, 2024 at 9:08 am

    Nobody likes Rhonda, and for very good reasons.

  • Mingo

    January 14, 2024 at 9:31 pm

    I could have been a contender!

  • Dont Say FLA

    January 15, 2024 at 10:02 am

    I disagree about the Rhonda’s In Iowa All The Time campaign strategy not paying off. It’s paid off handsomely for Nikki Haley.

Comments are closed.


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