Nikki Haley-Ron DeSantis feud escalates as she catches up to him in polls

The 2024 Republican presidential primary race is getting more competitive, as new polls show former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley closing in on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

With the Florida governor in her sights, Haley is attacking him in a new ad, referring to him as "Desperate DeSantis." The ad is in response to a line of attack from the term-limited Florida governor, who suggested that the former UN ambassador was warm to the idea of admitting Palestinian refugees fleeing Gaza into the United States. CNN fact-checked DeSantis' claim and pointed out that while Haley said distinctions should be made between Hamas and ordinary Gaza residents, she was not in fact in favor of accepting refugees from the war-torn region. Gov. DeSantis, for his part, has stuck with the false attack.

"[Haley is] trying to be politically correct. She’s trying to please the media and people on the Left. I don’t care about that," DeSantis said in a video posted to a campaign-affiliated X account. "I’m going to speak the truth and let the chips fall where they may."

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While DeSantis was initially thought to be the automatic second-place finisher behind former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican primary, the race has actually gotten much closer. Haley recently overtook tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy in September, and DeSantis' polling position has continued its downward trend since the last Republican presidential debate. And in a recent Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll of New Hampshire voters, Haley surpassed DeSantis, capturing 19% of likely Republican voters in the first-in-the-nation primary state, while DeSantis was favored by just 10% of Granite Staters.

Of course, both Haley and DeSantis are both still far behind Trump in the polls, with the former president increasing his share of likely GOP primary voters despite facing 91 felony charges in three separate jurisdictions. RealClearPolitics' latest polling average has Trump capturing a whopping 59% of primary voters with less than four months to go before the Iowa caucuses. Other candidates, like Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are all polling in the single digits.

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