Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has plunged to fourth place in New Hampshire’s Republican primary race, the latest Echelon Insights survey found.
The survey, released days ahead of the first Republican primary debate taking place August 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, asked likely Republican primary voters in the Granite State who they would support in the primary if it were to be held today.
As is consistent with several other surveys, former President Donald Trump emerged as the frontrunner, up by 20 points with 34 percent support.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came in second with 14 percent support, followed by 11 percent who chose anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
DeSantis, who has dropped to third place in several polls as of late, descended even further, arriving in fourth place, in the single digits with nine percent support.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott came closely behind with seven percent support, and remaining candidates saw three percent support or less.
The survey was taken August 15-17 among 800 likely Republican primary voters across New Hampshire and has a +/- 4 percent margin of error. It follows the release of a leaked confidential memo last month from the DeSantis campaign, designed to reassure concerned donors and supporters worried about the governor’s waning status in the polls. In that memo, the campaign assured it was dedicating resources primarily to early primary states, including New Hampshire.
The memo stated in part:
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.
While Super Tuesday is critically important, we will not dedicate resources to Super Tuesday that slow our momentum in New Hampshire. We expect to revisit this investment in the Fall.
The results of this survey also coincide with Rasmussen Reports’ national GOP survey, which found DeSantis descending to third place for both first and second choice.
DeSantis also faced criticism after dismissing supporters of Trump as “listless vessels,” telling the Florida Standard on Friday, “Because if you’re not rooted in principle, if all we are is listless vessels that are just supposed to follow, whatever happens, to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that’s not going to be a durable movement.”
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