Iowa Poll Shakes Up GOP Primary As New Runner-Up Emerges

A new poll conducted in Iowa has shaken up the Republican primary race with former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley tying Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as runner-up to former President Donald J. Trump. Both governors polled at 16% to Trump’s 43 percent.

The poll conducted by The Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa has set the stage for a major potential shift in Haley’s favor. Known as the ‘Iowa Silver’ according to Fox News, Haley’s performance and 59% favorability, and early polls from Suffolk/Boston Globe showing her leading DeSantis in New Hampshire could indicate a ‘changing of the guard’ so to speak, knocking the Florida Governor decisively into third place.

2024 IOWA GOP CAUCUS: @DMRegister

Trump 43% (+1)
DeSantis 16% (-3)
Haley 16 (+10)
Scott 7% (-2)
Christie 4% (-1)
Ramaswamy 4% (=)
Burgum 3% (+1)
Hutchinson 1% (+1)

[Change vs August]@jaselzer (A+) | 404 LV | 10/22-26https://t.co/jjA4T4UNQi pic.twitter.com/QL2QWWFCC2

— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) October 30, 2023

Pollster J. Ann Selzer, the President of Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll, told The Des Moines Register, “You just have (Haley) rising. You have DeSantis kind of holding on for second place.”

“But both of them are on ground that you could only describe as shaky compared to the solid ground that Donald Trump stands on.” She added, “If anything, he’s showing improvement.”

The Trump campaign released a statement from spokesman Steven Cheung who said,

“Ron DeSanctimonious promised voters he would practically move to Iowa to bolster his struggling operation in the First in the Nation state. A devastating new poll from the Des Moines Register and NBC further proves DeSanctus has the political acumen of a gnat. He’s actually dropped so low he’s tied with Birdbrain, while President Trump has extended his lead over the entire field. 

In a trend that is all too common for DeSanctus, the more money he spends and the more people meet him, the lower his poll numbers go down. 

His campaign loves to tout they are visiting all 99 counties in Iowa, but is it really effective if the only people who show up to see him are staffers and Jeff Roe’s out-of-state employees? 

So you would expect Ron to be pounding the pavement in Iowa and trying to change voters’ minds one at a time like a real candidate. Nope. This moron spent his day at the Miami Dolphins game with some randos instead of doing actual campaign work. Maybe he took some cues from his low-level staffer Christina Pooshaw who previously spent an important political weekend not campaigning, but instead taking the day off to go to NASCAR. Team DeSanctus aren’t killers, they’re clout chasers who aren’t willing to do whatever it takes to win.

You can see it in Ron’s dead eyes and clenched smile, he’s given up already.”

Trump’s support is more firmly secured than any of his competitors according to the Register. 54 percent of all GOP caucusgoers say their first choice for president could be swayed, but 41% say they’re locked in for the former president. Among Trump’s supporters, the number who are firm in their support for him is much higher at 63%. Selzer explained, “This solid ground is what makes people want to say he’s invincible.”