A new poll found that support for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley had climbed to match that of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but both were far behind former President Donald Trump.
Both DeSantis and Haley have garnered 16% support in the Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll while Trump holds a commanding lead with 43% support.
Support for DeSantis has fallen by three percentage points since August while support for Haley has increased by 10 percentage points since August. Support for Trump had increased by 1% since August.
Tim Scott garnered 7% of the poll respondents while entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Christ Christie received only 4% each in the same poll.
“You just have (Haley) rising. You have DeSantis kind of holding on for second place,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer. “But both of them are on ground that you could only describe as shaky compared to the solid ground that Donald Trump stands on.”
On Sunday, former vice president Mike Pence dropped out of the presidential race after five months on the campaign trail.
“I say this is not my time, but it’s still your time,” the 64-year-old said in a statement. “I urge you to hold fast to what matters faith, family, and the Constitution of the United States of America. I’m proud that our campaign stood firm on America’s role as leader of the free world.”
Trump responded to the development during a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada, later that day.
“I don’t know about Mike Pence. He should endorse me. You know why? Because I had a great, successful presidency and he was the vice president,” said the former president.
“I chose him, made him vice president, but people in politics can be very disloyal, I’ve never seen anything like it,” he added.
Here’s more about the new poll:
Steve Kornacki: A tie for second place in Iowa with DeSantis and Haleywww.youtube.com
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