(RightIsRight.co) – In a possible turning point causing a seismic shift in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race – at least for the No. 2 spot, former US ambassador Nikki Haley has surged early-voting Iowa, tying the voter support score of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and a former ally of Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, has reached a tie with DeSantis in Iowa, according to a new poll by The Des Moines Register, NBC News, and Mediacom Iowa.
Both are now garnering 16% support among GOP primary voters, National Review reports.
The survey, conducted in the final days of October, indicates a significant surge in Haley’s popularity, showing a 10-point increase since August.
In contrast, DeSantis experienced a slight decline, dropping three points in the same timeframe.
“You just have [Haley] rising. You have DeSantis kind of holding on for second place. But both of them are on ground that you could only describe as shaky compared to the solid ground that Donald Trump stands on. If anything, he’s showing improvement,” comments J. Ann Selzer, the pollster responsible for the survey.
The team of Haley, who served as then-President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the UN from 2017-2018, has embraced these results enthusiastically.
“Nikki Haley is now second in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Time to start talking about a two-person race, one man and one woman,” commented her press secretary, Ken Farnaso.
In the meantime, former President Donald Trump has seen a marginal increase in support, gaining one percentage point among Iowa primary voters.
He now holds the favor of 43% of respondents in the first-choice vote category of this latest poll.
“This is a good poll for Donald Trump. For all the things that happened between the last poll and now, he’s still the dominant player in the field, and his standing has, in fact, improved from August,” Selzer told Axios.
Other Republican figures trail significantly in the poll. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) stands at 7%, while former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are both at 4%.
Adding to the evolving Republican landscape, Trump’s former Vice President, Mike Pence, officially withdrew from the presidential race on Saturday.
