Trump holds 65-point lead over DeSantis in Nevada GOP caucus: poll
Former President Trump is 65 points ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a new poll Nevada, which will hold caucuses for the GOP nomination next month.
The Emerson College poll of likely Nevada GOP caucus voters found Trump leading with 73 percent. DeSantis took second place, but scored just single-digit support with 8 percent.
Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley was notably left off the poll, which also tested Republican presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson and Ryan Binkley.
Haley opted to have her name appear on the state’s primary ballot next month, rather than the party caucus.
Nevada’s Republican Party is holding its caucus on Feb. 8, effectively ignoring a plan under state law to hold a presidential preference primary on Feb. 6. Candidates are barred from the caucus if they take part in the primary, according to state GOP rules.
“With Nikki Haley opting to be named on the state primary ballot on Feb. 6 rather than the party caucus on Feb. 8, Trump does not have much competition on the ballot,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, in the report.
“The poll found more Republican voters in Nevada plan to vote in the Republican state-held primary compared to the party-held caucus,” Kimball noted.
The Nevada GOP has pitched the caucus as “the only place” for presidential hopefuls to earn delegates to the Republican National Convention, which complicates things for Haley in the state.
“Candidates that chose to appear on the state-run primary ballot did so knowing that decision meant they could not earn delegates by appearing on the caucus ballots,” reads the state GOP’s site, noting Haley among the primary candidates.
Ramaswamy and Christie, both on the caucus ballot, scored just 6 and 4 percent in the poll, respectively.
Ramaswamy scored just 6 percent support in the poll, and Christie secured 4 percent. Hutchinson and Binkley each got 1 percent or less, and another 8 percent of Republican caucus voters said they were undecided.
DeSantis and Haley have long been seen as squabbling for second place behind Trump, who boasts significant leads in national and swing state polling.
Polling averages from Decision Desk HQ and The Hill find DeSantis with a slight edge in Iowa, the first state to vote in the GOP presidential nominating cycle, while Haley holds second place in New Hampshire, which hosts the first-in-the-nation primary.
Haley and DeSantis are set to go head-to-head in the party’s fifth debate later this week, with Trump set to skip the program and other candidates failing to make meet the qualification criteria.
The Emerson College Polling Nevada survey was conducted Jan. 5-8 among 277 Republican caucus voters, according to the report, with a credibility interval of plus or minus 5.9 percentage points for that group.