Haley closes in on DeSantis for second place in GOP primary: poll

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is surging in the polls and appears poised to overtake Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the mantle of former President Donald Trump's strongest challenger.

While Trump stood at the top of the field with 58% support in the latest USA Today/Suffolk poll, DeSantis and Haley trailed with 12.3% and 11%, respectively.

Those figures represent a considerable narrowing of the gap between the latter two since that survey's June poll, at which time DeSantis earned 22.85% support and Haley took 4.49%.

The Florida governor has largely declined in standing since announcing his campaign earlier this year. On average, he remains the second place figure, earning 12.7% support in the RealClearPolitics polling average. Trump enjoys 59.0% support while Haley takes 7.8% in that metric. The RCP average includes the USA Today/Suffolk poll.

While he has lost support among the GOP electorate, he remains the plurality second choice, with 33.93% opting for him in the event their first choice was not an option. Haley placed second in that metric with 12.50% while Trump took 8.57%.

Conducted Oct. 17-20, the survey questioned 309 Republican and Republican-leaning voters and has a margin of error of +/- 5.6%.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.