Ramaswamy Tied With DeSantis in Republican Primary: Poll

For weeks, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has had a stronghold for second place in the Republican presidential primary polls, but new polling has biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy tied for the spot.

The political rivals are both sitting at 10% in the most recent national poll from Emerson College Polling. Former President Donald Trump maintains his lead with 56%.

"Ramaswamy has improved among Republican voters with a postgraduate degree, a group that has previously been part of the DeSantis’ base," Executive Director of Emerson College Polling Spencer Kimball said.

Other polling has also shown Ramaswamy closing in on DeSantis' second place lead.

DeSantis and Ramaswamy will both appear on the debate stage next week for the first Republican primary debate hosted by Fox News. Over 80% of Republican respondents to the survey said they are planning on watching the debate.

A memo leaked this week by a DeSantis super PAC revealed that the Sunshine State governor plans on taking a "sledgehammer" to Ramaswamy during the debate.

"Another boring, establishment attack from Super PAC-creation 'Robot Ron' who is literally taking lame, pre-programmed attack lines against me for next week’s debate. 'Hammer Ramaswamy,'" Ramaswamy posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to the memo.

The survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted from Aug. 16-17. Among those voters, 495 said they plan on voting in the their state's primary or caucus. The poll had a credibility interval of three points.