After a performance in the GOP presidential debate free of slip-ups, new polling from Iowa says Ron DeSantis is gaining ground on Donald Trump.
The survey from Public Opinion Strategies, a DeSantis pollster, shows the Florida Governor improving on a number of fronts, including the overall ballot test, which "shows DeSantis picking up significant ground since the debate. Both DeSantis and Nikki Haley saw significant increases in their ballot standing since before the debate, while Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy both slipped back a bit."
DeSantis has moved from 14% before the debate to 21% after the debate, per the new poll. That puts him 20 points behind Trump, but 10 points ahead of Haley and 14 points ahead of Ramaswamy and Scott.
Public Opinion Strategies also deems DeSantis the "clear winner" Wednesday, after he "won every single key 'attribute' among likely Iowa caucus-goers" among the eight candidates on stage. The Governor is seen as the "strongest conservative," the "strongest leader," the most "able to defeat" Joe Biden and Trump, and "strongest on border security."
DeSantis also saw a +4 improvement in overall favorability, the polling memo notes, while "Trump, Ramaswamy, and Chris Christie were the big losers from the debate in terms of their image as each of these candidates had negative change in their net favorable-unfavorable."
The pollster contends that more people than ever are ruling out Trump support.
"More than one-third of voters now say they are 'NOT considering Trump' — the highest figure we've seen," the pollster notes.
Public Opinion Strategies also argues that Ramaswamy was simply a Trump proxy Wednesday night and that Iowans don't intend to caucus for him.
"Ramaswamy was simply a placeholder position on the debate stage for core Trump voters. Vivek doesn't even win over voters who say he won the debate on Wednesday night," the pollster claims.
"Among those who believe that Ramaswamy won the debate, they are voting for Trump (60%), then Ramaswamy (21%), then DeSantis (10%) on the ballot. Among those who believe that DeSantis won the debate, they are voting for DeSantis (64%), then Trump (28%), then Scott (3%) and Haley (3%) on the ballot."
They also contend that in a two-way race with Trump, which isn't likely to happen of course, the former President leads 43% to 40%.
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