A new Iowa poll shows Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is gaining ground on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, but former President Donald Trump is holding a strong lead among voters.
The poll of 2,283 likely Republican Iowa caucus participants determined that 46% of likely Republican caucus participants in Iowa back the former president, while 16% said they support DeSantis and 10% support Scott, reports The Hill.
The survey, funded by the Trump campaign, was conducted by co/efficient from July 15-17 through landline phone interviews and mobile text responses. It carried a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.
Scott and DeSantis entered the race for the nomination the same week, and the South Carolina senator has been polling in the single digits nationally.
However, a super PAC backing Scott said this week it plans to spend $40 million on TV and digital ads in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina this fall.
In other numbers:
- Vivek Ramaswamy polled at 5%.
- Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, and Chris Christie all netted 3%.
- 10% of those surveyed said they are undecided.
Meanwhile, the poll showed that more voters trust Trump than DeSantis to "fight the woke mob" and work to protect farmers and Social Security, with the results ending in double-digit margins.
Meanwhile, polls in Iowa, where the first caucus for the GOP primary calendar will be on Jan. 15, have shown Trump in the lead.
These include a National Research poll in early July for the conservative group American Greatness, showing Trump at 44%, DeSantis at 21%, and Scott at 7%.
Another poll, conducted from May 30 to June 1 and sponsored by the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down, put Trump polled at 39%, DeSantis at 29%, and Scott at 7%.
This week, there were numerous reports that the DeSantis campaign is planning a reset, including a focus on early primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
Trump, meanwhile, was criticized in Iowa this week after he complained about the state's Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, after she appeared at multiple events with DeSantis, despite her "neutral" approach to the 2024 caucuses. He also skipped a DesMoines summit sponsored by The Family Leader, a major evangelical group in the state. However, most of the other 2024 GOP candidates attended the event, which was moderated by former Fox News star Tucker Carlson.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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