Struggling DeSantis sets sights on South Carolina, bypassing New Hampshire

By James Oliphant

(Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is all but abandoning New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary next week and instead focusing on South Carolina, where he hopes to pressure rival Nikki Haley in her home state.

DeSantis spent a huge proportion of his time and resources in Iowa, but came in a distant second to former President Donald Trump in the first Republican presidential nominating contest. DeSantis faces exceptionally tough odds in New Hampshire, a state his campaign has given scant attention to date.

Only about 6% of Granite Staters, as New Hampshire residents are known, plan to vote for DeSantis, according to polling averages, versus about 30% for Haley, a former South Carolina governor, and 43% for Trump. Some recent polls have shown the top two in a much closer battle.

His campaign is now planning to focus chiefly on balmier South Carolina, which votes in late February, CBS News reported earlier on Wednesday.

“When Nikki Haley fails to win her home state, she’ll be finished and this will be a two-person race,” a senior DeSantis campaign official told Reuters on Wednesday, confirming the report.

There is nothing to indicate, however, that DeSantis could eke out a strong win, or even a strong second-place finish, in South Carolina.

Trump is ahead of both DeSantis and Haley by a wide margin in that Deep South state, with polling averages showing him with nearly 55% support compared with Haley at almost 25% and DeSantis at 12%.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; writing by Alexandra Ulmer, editing by Ross Colvin and Jonathan Oatis)