Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis enjoyed a small increase in support following last week's Republican presidential debate, according to a new national poll.
DeSantis increased 2 points, to 12%, to remain in second place among contenders for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, Emerson College Polling found.
Former President Donald Trump, who did not participate in Wednesday night's debate, remains the clear front-runner at 50%. Still, that's 6 points less than last week's pre-debate poll results. It's also the lowest amount of support for the former president since Emerson College began polling in June last year for the 2024 election cycle.
"While Trump saw a slight dip in support, the question from this poll is whether this is a blip for Trump or if the other Republican candidates will be able to rally enough support to be competitive for the caucus and primary season," Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling said.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (9%) remained in third place among Republican presidential hopefuls despite a 1-point drop from last week's pre-debate poll.
Former Vice President Mike Pence (7%) received a 4-point increase after the debate.
"When Trump is removed from the GOP ballot test, his voters split between DeSantis at 32% and Ramaswamy at 29%, with Pence at 16% — which suggests if Trump was to not run, a race between DeSantis and Ramaswamy could take shape," Kimball said.
Former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (7%) saw the largest increase in support among Republican candidates. She went up 5 points in the post-debate survey results announced Monday.
"Different candidates have been able to pull varying demographic support from the Trump base, for example Mike Pence who saw an overall 4-point bump in voter support was able to increase his support in the Midwest from 4% to 13% of the vote, while Trump saw his Midwest support drop from 54% to 42% after the debate," Kimball said.
"Nikki Haley's support increased from about 2% to 9% among voters over 50 while Trump's support dropped within this age group from about 56% to 49% after the debate."
The latest Emerson College survey found that 57% of Republican primary voters say they definitely will vote for the candidate they selected, a 5-point decrease from last week. A total of 43% say there is a chance they could change their mind and vote for someone else.
"There appears to be a softening of support for Trump since last week's survey, where 82% of Trump voters said they would definitely support him, compared to 71% after the debate," Kimball said.
"DeSantis's support also softened from 32% who would definitely support to 25%, while Ramaswamy support remained consistent from 47% to 45%."
The Emerson College Polling national survey was conducted Aug. 25-26.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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