Ron DeSantis Handed Brutal News by Poll

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has faced another blow to his hopes of being the Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election after a poll showed a slump in support.

The survey conducted by the Emerson College Polling Center this month found that DeSantis had only 8 percent support among voters for the GOP primaries. That puts the governor level with former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, but well behind the frontrunner, former President Donald Trump.

At the start of his primary campaign, DeSantis had been seen as the greatest threat to Trump as he positioned himself as the best candidate to inherit his MAGA mantle.

However, the survey of 1,578 voters carried out on October 16 and 17 with a 2.4 percent margin of error showed that support for DeSantis had slumped four points, from 12 percent in September, while Haley's had risen from 3 percent.

Backing for Trump this month is unchanged at 59 percent as he remains the only GOP candidate with support in double figures.

Other Republican contenders are former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who polled at 4 percent support; Mike Pence, who was vice president under Trump, at 3 percent; and the conservative Vivek Ramaswamy also at 3 percent, while 10 percent of respondents were undecided.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman who is a supporter of Trump, posted the poll's results on X (formerly Twitter) with the message: "Trump is winning so big every other candidate needs to drop out.

"Save the donors money and stop wasting it," Greene added. Newsweek has contacted DeSantis' office by email for comment.

Thomas Gift, founding director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, England, told Newsweek that, for DeSantis' presidential hopes, "the game's over."

"DeSantis's flagging campaign is yet another example of how little the GOP establishment and donor class have a finger on the pulse of conservative primary voters," Gift said.

"This is Trump's party, and as long as the main act is still playing, no tribute band was ever going to do," added Gift. "All of this should have been predictable. For the MAGA crowd, why go for Trump-lite in DeSantis when you can have the real deal?"

DeSantis has faced setbacks in his campaign since he became the first candidate to declare that he would challenge Trump in a bungled Twitter livestream announcement on May 24.

On the campaign trail, Trump has disparaged DeSantis as "highly overrated" and criticized the Florida governor's previous support for reducing Social Security and Medicare spending.

The Trump campaign also seized on the report that Fox News' owner Rupert Murdoch, a key figure in conservative media—was souring on DeSantis, whose campaign has cut a third of its staff.

Meanwhile, DeSantis' hyper-online strategy, which had been viewed as a potential strength, faced a series of gaffes and blown opportunities. This is according to former staff members, influencers with ties to the campaign, and right-wing commentators, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

The DeSantis campaign has since been trying to claw back the initiative and has $2 million ad buy in Iowa, which will hold the country's first GOP caucus. The DeSantis campaign raised $11.2 million in the last quarter—down from $20 million it raised during the first six weeks of the campaign.

All may not be entirely lost for the governor, though. "At this stage, DeSantis is reliant on two things to remain relevant in the race: a significant upswing following the third primary debate in Miami next month that will enable his campaign to catch fire in Iowa, and a collapse of the Trump campaign under the weight of legal enmity," Mark Shanahan told Newsweek this week. He is an associate professor at the University of Surrey in the U.K. and co-editor of The Trump Presidency: From Campaign Trail to World Stage.

"For a disciplined and reasonably resourced campaign, the first objective still appears plausible," Shanahan said.

The DeSantis campaign is focusing on Iowa, and the next debate will take place on November 8. Trump declined to attend the two previous debates.