DeSantis floundering in fifth place in New Hampshire: poll 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has fallen to fifth place in New Hampshire in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, according to a new poll. 

DeSantis, 44, received 10% support from Granite State voters in a CNN/University of New Hampshire survey released Wednesday, placing him behind former President Donald Trump, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the key early primary state. 

The Republican Florida governor, who earlier in his campaign appeared to have positioned himself as Trump’s top rival for the GOP presidential nomination, has dropped 13 points since July in the same New Hampshire poll. 

Trump, 77, topped the statewide poll with 39%, followed by Ramaswamy, 38, who received 13%, Haley, 51, who garnered 12% and Christie, 61, who collected 11% support in the survey of more than 2,000 New Hampshire residents conducted between Sept. 14 and Sept. 18. 

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), at 6%, former Vice President Mike Pence, at 2%, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, at 1% apiece, trailed the five other candidates.

The poll suggests that DeSantis’ slide is likely the result of significant gains made by Ramaswamy among young voters and people not registered as Republicans, as well as increased support for Haley among moderates and those with more formal education. 

Christie, who launched his 2024 campaign in the Granite State, is receiving growing support from independents and Democrats who say they plan to vote in the GOP primary, according to the survey.

Support for Trump is largely unchanged since the July poll. 

The survey comes ahead of next week’s second GOP presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, for which DeSantis, Ramaswamy, Pence, Haley, Scott and Christie have qualified to take the stage. 

Trump plans to skip the forum, as he did last month, and host a campaign event in Detroit with autoworkers instead. 

Nationally, a recent Quinnipiac poll found that Trump was ahead of DeSantis among GOP voters by a margin of 62% to 12%.

The DeSantis campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.