Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley passed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis into second place in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination for the first time in FiveThirtyEight's national polling average, Nathaniel Rakich, a senior editor for the polling analysis website, announced on X on Wednesday.
Although Rakich noted that there are "caveats about confidence intervals and there [are] multiple ways to calculate an average," it appears that Haley taking over the second spot is a reflection of her rise in the polls that has taken place over the past few months, with many experts citing her strong primary debate performances.
DeSantis had held second place in the Republican primary field for most of the race and at one time was even closely behind former President Donald Trump for the lead, The Hill pointed out.
But DeSantis has dropped significantly over the months from above 30% nationally to the low double-digits.
Trump remains the clear front-runner for the GOP nomination, holding a 50-point lead in FiveThirtyEight's national average.
Trump also has significant leads in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, although Haley has been gaining there as well, especially in New Hampshire.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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