Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has plummeted to fourth place in South Carolina’s Republican primary race, a Washington Post-Monmouth University poll released Thursday found.
The survey examined the race in South Carolina, one of the early primary states, and found former President Donald Trump leading with 46 percent support. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley found herself in second place, 28 points behind, with 18 percent support.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott came in third place, garnering double-digit support with ten percent.
DeSantis, however, fell to fourth place in the early primary state with nine percent support, followed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with five percent, anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy with three percent, former Vice President Mike Pence with three percent, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson with two percent, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who saw zero percent support.
The survey was taken September 6-11, 2023, among 506 potential South Carolina Republican primary voters. It has a ± 4.6 percent margin of error.
This trend — particularly of DeSantis sliding in South Carolina — has continued for months. A July Fox Business poll, for example, showed DeSantis falling to third in the state, behind both Trump and Haley. At the time, Scott sat just three points behind the Florida governor.
The following month, a National Public Affairs poll found DeSantis in a five-way race for second place in the Palmetto State, with Scott and Haley trailing him by two points and Christie trailing him by six.
A Trafalgar Group poll released that same month also found DeSantis battling for second place with Scott, as both were virtually tied with nearly 14 percent support each.
DeSantis’s failure to make major strides in South Carolina comes as his campaign continues to focus primarily on the first three primary states of New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina.
A DeSantis campaign memo leaked in July outlined the campaign’s strategy moving forward:
Ron DeSantis is running a campaign to win everywhere. It would be a mistake to take a paid media and field program off the table in service of other states, we will not cede New Hampshire. From what we can tell, pro-DeSantis efforts are currently and will continue to run a robust effort in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire, that includes paid media and field.
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Thursday’s RealClearPolitics average in South Carolina’s GOP primary shows Trump leading with an average of 47.3 percent, followed by Haley with 13.3 percent, DeSantis with 12 percent, and Scott with 11.3 percent.