Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his presential bid last month, more than six months after the announcement by rival candidate Donald Trump.
Now, DeSantis is seeing a drop in the polls. According to a new poll from NBC News, DeSantis was polling higher before announcing his campaign.
Between June 16 and 20, NBC’s pollsters used cell phones and other methods to survey 1,000 registered voters, including 500 Republican primary voters… and they found some bad news for DeSantis.
According to the poll, only 22 percent of primary voters would back DeSantis in a hypothetical election held today. DeSantis has suffered a nine-point slide since NBC’s April poll, where he had 31 percent support.
Meanwhile, former President Trump would nab 51 percent of the vote in a primary election held today. Since April’s primary poll, Trump has risen by five points… and has gained majority support.
DeSantis is splitting the vote with a few other candidates, all polling within the single digits. The Florida governor is polling relatively well in a two-way race against Trump… but not well enough to win.
In a two-way primary held today, 60 percent of voters would back Trump. By contrast, only 36 percent would back DeSantis. 3 percent would abstain, with only 1 percent remaining undecided.
In other words, DeSantis struggling to catch up to Trump even without the vote splitting.
It gets worse.
According to one review of this poll, DeSantis has become the favorite among primary voters under 50, but Trump outperforming him among those over 65, a demographic much more likely to vote.
However, DeSantis got some good news, too. He’s polling 47-47 in a hypothetical contest against incumbent President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Trump is polling four points behind Biden.
Plus, DeSantis is more popular as a second choice than as a first choice.
Only 22 percent of primary voters named DeSantis as their first choice, but an additional 31 percent named him as their second choice. By contrast, 51 percent would choose Trump first, but only 12 percent would choose Trump second.
In 2020, Biden won the Democratic primary by earning enough votes from candidates who’d dropped out. Now, DeSantis finds himself in a similar spot.
Still, DeSantis has little to celebrate.
The Horn editorial team