Poll: Ron DeSantis Slips Behind Vivek Ramaswamy for Both First and Second Choice

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has slipped to third place — for both first and second choice — behind former President Donald Trump and anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, a Rasmussen Reports survey released Monday found.

The survey, released two days prior to the first Republican National Committee (RNC) debate, showed Trump leading the GOP field with 49 percent of the vote among GOP likely voters — 38 points ahead of Ramasamy, who came in second place with 11 percent.

DeSantis came in one point behind Ramaswamy with ten percent support, followed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (seven percent), South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (four percent), former Vice President Mike Pence (three percent), former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (three percent), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (one percent), and radio host Larry Elder (one percent).

Notably, Trump’s figure ticked up to 51 percent among “very likely” voters.

DeSantis’s descent has been seen in other surveys as well, as he fell to third in the latest RMG Research survey and in an Emerson College survey examining the race in New Hampshire. But the Rasmussen Reports survey also found DeSantis failing to emerge as the top second choice for Republicans should Trump be unable to run.

In that scenario, Ramaswamy garnered 24 percent of the vote, compared to 23 percent who chose DeSantis, seven percent who chose Scott, seven percent who chose Christie, five percent who chose Haley, and four percent who chose Pence.

The survey was taken August 19-21, 2023, among 818 likely Republican primary voters with a +/- three percent margin of error.

DeSantis’s descent was largely predicted by Trump, who told Breitbart News in July, “He’s crashing badly.”

“People said he was a lousy candidate,” Trump said. “He turned out to be a lousy candidate. I don’t think he’s going to be second very long. It looks like he’s being superseded by others or getting very close.”

WATCH — Trump on DeSantis: “He’s Crashing Badly,” Will Be “Superseded” in Second Place