Donald Trump has been doubling up on Ron DeSantis in what has looked like a two-man race for the GOP nomination.
But now this news could change everything.
And Donald Trump will be furious after getting this news out of a key GOP primary battleground.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is headed back out on the campaign trail this weekend after taking time off to lead the state’s disaster recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia.
DeSantis is fresh off a campaign reboot that brought in a new Campaign Manager and devised a new strategy of focusing solely on the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.
Of the early states, DeSantis is placing most of his resources into winning the Iowa Caucuses on January 15.
DeSantis headed to Iowa this weekend to attend the annual football game between Iowa and Iowa State.
Polls show Donald Trump, who was also scheduled to be at Saturday’s game, with a large lead in Iowa.
But DeSantis is laying the grassroots foundation to turn out Republicans all across Iowa on Caucus night.
And a new poll shows a promising trend for DeSantis.
Public Opinion Strategies is the internal pollster for Ron DeSantis’ Presidential campaign.
According to an internal poll conducted September 5-6 by Public Opinion Strategies, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are the only two Republicans in the crowded field with significant support in Iowa.
“Moving into September, Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump’s positives are now identical,” the polling memo read. “Vivek Ramaswamy’s image has taken on water since the first debate.”
DeSantis and Trump both have a 73% approval rating among the 400 GOP caucus participants contacted by phone for the survey.
The survey showed Donald Trump leading DeSantis by 45% to 22% in Iowa.
But despite Trump’s sizable lead, the polling data shows Iowa is a “two-man race” between DeSantis and Trump.
“This is a two-man race in Iowa,” the polling memo read. “Now that the dust has settled after the first debate, Trump and DeSantis are the only two candidates with significant support — nobody else eclipses 6%.”
“DeSantis saw a significant increase in his ballot standing since before the debate which has stabilized,” the memo continued. “Meanwhile, Haley, Ramaswamy and Scott have seen a decline in support.”
Trump also appears to be losing his “floor” or core base of support, as the pollster noted that “just 22% of voters say they are ‘only considering Trump’ compared to 26% after the first presidential debate. Nearly half (48%) of voters say they are ‘considering Trump and other candidates’ and another 29% say they are ‘not considering Trump.’”
DeSantis is planning to visit all 99 counties in Iowa over the next few weeks as part of his early-state strategy.
And the latest internal poll shows his new strategy is starting to make an impact.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
