New NH Poll Shows DeSantis Supporters More Likely to Vote Trump Over Nikki Haley

A new poll shows that supporters of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in New Hampshire are more likely to support former President Donald Trump as their second-choice candidate rather than former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

The CNN and University of New Hampshire poll released just hours before DeSantis announced the end of his presidential campaign on Sunday indicated that 62% of likely New Hampshire GOP primary voters who support DeSantis chose Trump as their secondary candidate. Only 30% of the likely DeSantis voters marked Haley as their second option.

The poll comes 48 hours before voters in New Hampshire will vote between Trump and Haley as the former United Nations ambassador hopes to close the gap between herself and the former president.

According to Real Clear Politics, Trump holds a commanding lead with 52.5% average support; however, Haley is about 15 points behind at 37.5%. The results from CNN’s recent poll suggests that DeSantis bowing out from the race may benefit Trump on Tuesday and possibility hurt Haley’s chances of dethroning the frontrunner.

On Sunday, DeSantis released a video message to his supporters on his social media announcing the end of his campaign while endorsing the former president.

“I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear: a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” he said.

The CNN/UNH poll surveyed 2,348 respondents along with 1,242 likely Republican primary voters between January 16th and 19th. The margin of error is 2.8%.