Nikki Haley Continues Her Ascent, Ties DeSantis for 2nd In Iowa’s Gold Standard Poll

Republican presidential hopeful and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is continuing to build off of momentum she’s been enjoying since late summer, tying Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for second place in an iteration of Iowa’s gold standard survey released on Monday.

The new Des Moines Register/NBC News poll still indicates that former President Donald Trump holds a sizable lead in the Hawkeye state, where the first primary contest of the 2024 season will be held on January 15.

But Haley’s 16% outstripped her base of support in a poll conducted by the same outlets in August by 10% and tied DeSantis, who lost 3% of his support.

Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) came in fourth place with 7%, followed by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.

While DeSantis has long clung to a solid second place both nationally and in Iowa — even beating Trump in some state polls earlier this year — Haley has vaulted herself out of the crowded third tier of candidates and into DeSantis’s league as he continues to bleed support.

On March 30, Trump was in first place in the RealClearPolitics average of national GOP primary polls with 45.9%. DeSantis took the silver with 30.1%, and Haley was in fourth with 4.3. Since then, Trump has only improved his standing, now garnering the support of nearly 60% of Republicans. Meanwhile, the gap between DeSantis (12.6%) and Haley (8.3%) is steadily closing.

A similar story can be told in Iowa, where DeSantis had the support of 28% and Haley just 5.5% of voters in mid-May. Now, DeSantis is supported by just 17.3%, with Haley climbing to 11.3%. Haley is also now leading in both New Hampshire and South Carolina, the two states that will follow Iowa on the primary calendar.

Still, Trump remains in control of the race.

“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,” said famed pollster J. Ann Selzer.