Nikki Haley rose into second place in a final Iowa poll while former President Donald Trump’s support among likely caucus-goers still makes him the overwhelming favorite to win the GOP’s first presidential nominating contest on Monday.
The poll reinforced Trump’s projected strength in Iowa, while also underscoring Haley’s slow consolidation of the GOP field and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stagnation despite investing the bulk of his resources here. Trump was the polling leader at 48%, with Haley at 20% and DeSantis slipping into third place at 16%.
Haley was up 4 percentage points from December’s Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, underscoring her momentum in the race following five GOP debates. Both Trump and DeSantis, meanwhile, were down 3 points during the same period.
