Republican White House candidate Nikki Haley tops GOP rival Ron DeSantis by 7 points in a poll of likely caucusgoers in Iowa released days before the first presidential contest.
Haley drew support from 20 percent of likely caucusgoers in the Suffolk University Political Research Center poll released Thursday, while DeSantis had 13 percent.
Former President Trump maintained his dominant lead in the survey, with 54 percent of likely caucusgoers backing him.
No other candidate broke double digits.
Haley and DeSantis have gone after each other hard heading into Iowa, where polls have shown they are battling for second.
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who served as United Nations ambassador under Trump, squared off with DeSantis in a one-on-one debate Wednesday night in Des Moines, the final debate before Monday’s caucuses.
During the debate, DeSantis defended his record as Florida governor while attacking Haley over myriad issues, seeking to blunt her momentum in the primary. The pair sparred over issues such as abortion, foreign policy and spending.
“The best way to tell about a candidate is to see how they run their campaign,” Haley said at one point, attacking DeSantis. “He has blown through $150 million. … I don’t even know how you do that.”
“He has nothing to show for it. He’s spent more money on private planes than he has on commercials trying to get Iowans to vote for him. If you can’t manage a campaign, how are you going to manage a country?” she added.
Trump skipped the CNN debate and appeared at his own town hall event hosted by Fox News elsewhere in Des Moines.
Hours before the debate, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced he was dropping out of the GOP race, a move widely seen as helping boost Haley, especially in New Hampshire. The Granite State holds its primary Jan. 23, and polls have shown the race is tighter there, though Trump has generally held onto a lead.
Moments before he appeared on stage in New Hampshire to announce to supporters that he was suspending his campaign, Christie was heard on a hot mic saying Haley is “gonna get smoked” in the race against Trump.
“I mean look, she’s spent like $68 million so far, just on TV — spent $68 million so far — $59 million by DeSantis, and we spent $12 [million]. I mean, who’s punching above their weight and who’s getting a return on their investment, you know?” Christie was heard saying in the audio. “And she’s gonna get smoked. And you and I both know it. She’s not up to this.”
Christie was drawing 2 percent support in Iowa before he dropped out, according to the Suffolk University Political Research Center poll, while entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy earned 6 percent.
The survey of 500 likely Republican caucusgoers was conducted Jan. 6-10 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.