Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been unable to rally the troops in his home state of Florida as his support in the Republican primary race has dropped to the “lowest support recorded,” according to the latest Victory Insights survey.
The survey shows former President Donald Trump with majority support in the Sunshine State — 59.5 percent. That reflects a slight increase, up from 58.8 percent support in August.
While DeSantis remains in second place, he is 40.7 percentage points behind the former president with 18.8 percent support. An executive summary from the poll notes that this is the lowest it has recorded DeSantis at in this particular poll, and it is also “the lowest support recorded for him in Florida from any pollster at any point in the race.”
This is telling, as early polls taken in May actually showed DeSantis leading Trump, but that reality has only continued to diminish throughout his struggling campaign.
“The DeSantis campaign appears to be in free fall,” the survey found, noting that DeSantis’s decline could be connected to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley slightly improving her standing in the polls. She has gained six points since August, moving from 1.6 percent to 7.6 percent support, while DeSantis has decreased four points, dropping from 22.5 percent to the teens since August.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie comes in fourth place with 5.3 percent support, up slightly from the 3.9 percent seen in August. Anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy comes next with 1.3 percent support, down from 3.1 percent support.
Overall, 4.8 percent remain undecided, while 2.7 percent said they support “someone else.” Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is consistently polling at one or zero percent in other surveys, does not appear to be mentioned in this poll.
Even in a one-on-one matchup, DeSantis fails to put up a competitive fight, as Trump leads him 56.8 percent to 25.8 percent. In that scenario, 17.4 percent remain undecided.
The entire survey was taken December 8-9, 2023, among 1,220 likely GOP primary voters in Florida. It has a ± 2.9 percent margin of error.
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The poll comes as DeSantis faces another hurdle, as New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) is expected to endorse his competitor, Haley, on Tuesday. DeSantis is currently in fourth place in the early primary state, per RealClearPolitics.