New poll has Haley over DeSantis among Republicans in New Hampshire, but Trump far ahead of both

BOSTON (TND) — There’s a bit of a shakeup in the Republican presidential race.

Nikki Haley has jumped way ahead of Ron DeSantis in a poll of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire. However, Donald Trump is still far ahead of both.

The Suffolk University/Boston Globe/USA TODAY survey released Wednesday has Trump with 49%, followed by Haley with 19% and DeSantis with 10%.

Everyone else is in single digits: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with 6%, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott with roughly 4% each, and former vice president Mike Pence and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum with just 1% each.

The poll of 500 likely GOP primary voters was conducted after the second debate, which took place last Wednesday, Sept. 27. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points.

Haley, a former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina governor, has performed well in polls taken after both debates and is reportedly drawing more interest from donors.

DeSantis, the current Florida governor, had been considered the heavy favorite to emerge as Trump’s chief rival. Instead, his campaign suffered from overspending and staffing problems, plus donors unhappy with his early performance.

Meanwhile, late Monday, Trump’s top campaign advisers claimed without evidence that Democrats are working to steal the 2024 election.

As for the candidate with the large lead, Trump decided not to participate in the first two debates, and he said he won’t participate in any future ones.

His senior campaign advisors even called on the Republican National Committee to cancel the remaining presidential primary debates and “refocus its manpower” to defeat President Joe Biden.

Anything less, along with other reasons not to cancel, are an admission to the grassroots that their concerns about voter integrity are not taken seriously and national Republicans are more concerned about helping Joe Biden than ensuring a safe and secure election,” Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement.

The RNC did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Trump spent the past three days in court in New York for the civil fraud trial accusing him of inflating the value of his businesses. Trump has played victim, arguing the case is politically motivated.

The first real battleground for the candidates is scheduled to take place in just over three months. That’s the Iowa caucuses, scheduled to take place on Jan. 15, 2024.

DeSantis has considered a good performance in the Hawkeye State vital to his campaign. He has spent quite a bit of time there and now his campaign announced it’s going to move about a third of its staff Tallahassee-based staff of 56 there. DeSantis only has a staff of four there — a super PAC with about two dozen Iowa staffers has done most of the work — but he should soon have the largest team there.

Trump is dominating in Iowa and has more events planned for these.

The first primary contest will be in New Hampshire but a date has not been set.