Washington: In a twist in the US presidential race, a new poll showed that Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy were tied at the second place in the Republican primary field, Hill reported.
According to an Emerson College poll, DeSantis and Ramaswamy shared the second spot with 10% support each. They both were trailing far behind former president Donald Trump, who leads them with 56% of registered Republicans in his corner.
For DeSantis, it is a huge fall from his position in June when he ranked second with 21% support. On the other hand, political novice Ramaswamy has seen a mercurial rise from garnering just 2% then. Pollsters also found a somewhat less solid backing among DeSantis supporters compared to those of Ramaswamy. Almost half of Ramaswamy backers said they will definitely vote for him, while only a third of DeSantis supporters said the same, according to the Hill report. Meanwhile, more than 80% of Trump supporters said they will definitely vote for him.
The poll’s release comes as aleaked memo from the super political action committee (PAC) supporting DeSantis’ candidacy, ‘Never Back Down’, makes clear that Ramaswamy is viewed as a threat and urged the Florida governor to “take a sledgehammer” to the IndianAmerican, the Hill reported. Other pollings have shown Ramaswamy closing in on DeSantis for second place, and the memo appears to acknowledge that a few other candidates too are gaining momentum behind the Florida governor.
The polling comes ahead of the first Republican primary debate, which Trump is reportedly planning to skip. More than 80% of Republican primary voters said they plan to watch the debate. The poll was conducted on August 16-17 among 1,000 registered voters, including 465 who said they plan to vote in their state’s Republican primary or caucus.