Shortly after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the 2024 presidential primary race, CNN conducted a poll showing that most of the Florida governor’s supporters would back former President Donald Trump as their second choice for president over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
The poll by the CNN/University of New Hampshire (UNH) found that 62% of likely GOP New Hampshire voters who chose DeSantis as their preferred choice for president would pick Trump as their second choice. Just 30% of individuals backing DeSantis said they would select Haley as their alternate presidential contender.
The survey came just hours before the Florida governor announced his departure from the presidential primary race and comes days before voters in the Granite State are set to vote for their preferred GOP presidential contender. The CNN poll showed Trump maintaining a double-digit lead over Haley in New Hampshire.
The CNN poll also showed the former president with 50% support in the Granite State and Haley with just 39%, with DeSantis significantly trailing.
The survey’s results signal that DeSantis supporters could provide the former president with a boost in the upcoming New Hampshire primary.
In a video announcing his departure from the GOP presidential primary race, DeSantis endorsed Trump.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said in the video.
“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 added.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston Churchill pic.twitter.com/ECoR8YeiMm
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 21, 2024
After receiving news of DeSantis’ endorsement, Trump held a rally in New Hampshire, congratulating the Florida governor on “a great campaign for president” and thanking him for his support.
“I’d like to take time to congratulate Ron DeSantis, a really terrific person … for having run a great campaign for president,” the former president said. “He ran a really good campaign.”
Speaking of DeSantis’ endorsement, Trump said, “I appreciate that,” adding, “And I also look forward to working with Ron and everybody else to defeat crooked Joe Biden. We will have to get him out.”
