Gov. Ron DeSantis faces the first — and possibly last — major test of his presidential campaign on Monday when Iowa Republicans gather amid subzero temperatures to pick their nominee.
DeSantis needs to finish ahead of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to show voters he remains a plausible alternative to Donald Trump, political analysts say. The former president comfortably leads in Iowa and in the New Hampshire primary a week later, polls show.
Haley has been surging in the polls in New Hampshire, with a CNN/University of New Hampshire survey from Tuesday showing her at 32% to Trump’s 39%. DeSantis was in fifth place at 5%, behind former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Haley likely will pick up even more voters after Christie, the harshest critic of Trump on the GOP side, dropped out of the race Wednesday night.
“It makes it easier for Haley to say next week, ‘It’s either Trump or me in New Hampshire,’” said Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire. “Even though Christie is not offering an endorsement, at least not yet, Haley becomes the only game in town for anti-Trump voters.”
Christie said in his withdrawal speech, “I would rather lose by telling the truth than lie in order to win. And I feel no differently today because this is a fight for the soul of our party and the soul of our country.”
He also was caught on a hot mic saying that Haley is “going to get smoked” and that DeSantis called him, “petrified.”
“I agree with Christie that Nikki Haley is ‘going to get smoked,’” DeSantis wrote on social media afterward.
DeSantis takes sharper aim at Trump in Iowa but to little avail
With New Hampshire looking like a lost cause for DeSantis, the Iowa caucuses have become all the more crucial.
A Civiqs/Iowa State poll released Thursday had DeSantis tied for second in Iowa with Haley at 14% each. But a new Suffolk University poll of Iowa had Haley at 20%…
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