New polling out of South Carolina shows a growing battle for second place in the 2024 GOP primary.
Former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) is running neck and neck with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), with 18% to 20% support, respectively, among voters, which is within the plus or minus 4.45 percentage point margin of error of the GOP subset in a Winthrop University poll. Both trail former President Donald Trump, who is leading the primary with 41%.
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“While DeSantis is viewed as the singular alternative to Trump in national polls, the real story here is that Haley and DeSantis are in a statistical dead heat in what could be a firewall for Haley when voting rolls around,” Scott Huffmon, the poll’s director, said in a statement.
Haley was governor of the Palmetto State from 2011 to 2017.
Other Republicans in the field or mulling a run lagged behind the top three. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who just launched a presidential exploratory committee, scored 7% support, while former Vice President Mike Pence got 5%, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo 2%, and Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) 1%.
In terms of being favorable to voters, Haley maintains a 73% approval and 14% unfavorable rating among Republicans, with a 53% favorable and 30% very or somewhat unfavorable rating among general voters, per the poll.
Trump holds a 74% favorable view and 17% unfavorable view from Republicans, with a 43% favorable rating and 48% unfavorable view among general election voters, according to the poll.
DeSantis has widely been pegged as the second-place challenger to Trump, and Haley’s campaign has sought to make the case that she is the better alternative to Trump.
Haley, who launched her campaign in February, has been visiting the early primary states at a fast pace. She is in Iowa, where she held a town hall Tuesday, and is set to headline a “Women for Nikki” event in Des Moines on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, DeSantis has not yet jumped into the fray but has been crisscrossing the nation, touting Florida as a model for the country. He is set to deliver a speech in Ohio this week and then head to New Hampshire to headline the 2023 Amos Tuck Dinner on Friday. DeSantis is expected to declare his 2024 intentions after the Florida state legislature wraps up its session in May.
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The poll surveyed 1,657 adults with a 485 Republican sample. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.41 percentage points, and the subsample had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.45 percentage points.
In general election polling, Trump reigns as the clear front-runner, with DeSantis in second and Haley in fourth, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate.
