DeSantis Supporters Prefer Trump as 2nd Choice in New Hampshire Primary: Poll

(Left) Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Grappone Convention Center in Concord, N.H., on Jan. 19, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images); (Right) Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at his caucus night event in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 15, 2024. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ supporters are likely to favor former President Donald Trump as their second choice over former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, according to a recent poll.

A University of New Hampshire/CNN poll released on Jan. 21 shows that among Mr. DeSantis’ supporters in New Hampshire, 62 percent will vote for the 45th president as their second-choice candidate, while 30 percent will choose Ms. Haley.

The poll was released hours before the Florida governor dropped out of the GOP race and endorsed President Trump. Earlier in the day, Mr. DeSantis announced that he would suspend his campaign, saying he had “no clear path of victory.”

“I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” Mr. DeSantis said.

President Trump’s campaign responded to the departure graciously, thanking the Florida governor for his endorsement and calling on the Republican Party to come together and get behind the clear frontrunner.

“With only a few days left until President Donald J. Trump’s victory in New Hampshire, we are honored by the endorsement from Governor Ron DeSantis and so many other former presidential candidates,” a statement from President Trump’s campaign read.

“He ran a really great campaign,” President Trump told his supporters during his rally in Rochester, New Hampshire. “I look forward to working with Ron … to defeat crooked Joe Biden,” President Trump said.

The poll results indicate President Trump may get a boost from the Florida governor’s supporters in New Hampshire. However, the poll revealed that only 6 percent of voters in the state chose Mr. DeSantis as their first-choice candidate.

Mr. DeSantis ended his White House bid only two days ahead of New Hampshire’s GOP presidential primary election on Jan. 23. Although Mr. DeSantis claimed the second place in the Iowa caucuses with 21.2 percent of the vote, he trailed significantly behind President Trump, who secured 51 percent of the vote.

Promising Start

The DeSantis campaign got off to a promising start, winning a landslide reelection bid against former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in November 2022. His prominence increased in conservative circles after keeping the Sunshine State open while much of the country was shutting down during the initial outbreak of COVID-19.

In early polling before his announcement, Mr. DeSantis was running close to President Trump on the strength of his conservative reputation. However, as time wore on and the former president was hit with indictments, President Trump ascended to the top spot while Mr. DeSantis gradually fell out of favor.

The DeSantis campaign was also dogged by infighting rumors and a lack of strategic organization. Its largest financial backer, Never Back Down Inc., saw its leadership change frequently toward the end of 2023 and lost its chief strategist, noted Republican consultant and founder of Axiom Strategies Jeff Roe. It also saw its largest donor defect to President Trump.

Trump’s Steady Lead

With Mr. DeSantis’ departure, only two contenders—President Trump and the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley—remain in the race, where President Trump remains the clear frontrunner for the nomination.

The CNN poll shows President Trump leads Ms. Haley by 11 percentage points before the GOP primary election. The former president currently holds 50 percent of support from the Granite State voters, while the former U.N. ambassador trails behind by 39 percentage points.

An average of polls conducted by various pollsters for the GOP New Hampshire primary, compiled by Real Clear Polling on Feb. 22, 2023, showed President Trump leading at 54.5 percent, with Ms. Haley at 37 percent.

For the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race average polls, the former president maintains a commanding lead with 66.1 percentage points, compared to Ms. Haley’s 11.5 percentage points, a significant 54.6 percent gap. This gap has been further widened after multiple legal battles as the 45th president strengthens his popularity within the GOP base.

Joseph Lord and Austin Alonzo contributed to this report.