Ron DeSantis on the rebound as Trump touts lead over Biden

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is on the rebound in the race for the White House after his strong showing in this week’s GOP debate, climbing 8 points among Republicans in a new national poll.

The InsiderAdvantage survey of likely Republican primary and caucus voters found the Florida governor at 18% in the GOP presidential contest — a sharp gain from the 10% he notched in the days ahead of Wednesday’s first debate.

Another debate winner was Nikki Haley, the poll showed, who more than doubled her support – from 5% to 11% – on her forceful performance, while biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy held steady at 7%.

“DeSantis performed well in the debate and I think at times looked like the most presidential candidate on the stage,” political consultant Ryan Girdusky said. “The biggest issues Republican voters are thinking about this cycle are crime, immigration, and the economy and on all three issues, DeSantis was far better than the rest of the field.”

Former President Donald Trump, with 45% support, remained well ahead of the pack, the post-debate poll of 850 GOP voters found.

But that was a drop of 6 points for the front-runner, as some Republicans criticized Trump for his debate no-show — and as he became the first US president in history to receive a mugshot. The survey, released Friday, had a 3% margin of error.

Trump on Saturday ignored that poll to trumpet a different survey.

“Oh no, I’m leading by 6, 7, and 8 in various Polls over Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump posted on Truth Social, over results from a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. “That almost guarantees another Indictment!”

The survey of 1,004 adults found Trump with 38% to Biden’s 32% in a hypothetical general election rematch — with 30% refusing to endorse either one of those universally known candidates. The poll had a 6% credibility interval.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll’s smaller panel of 347 Republicans gave Trump a considerable 52%-13% lead over DeSantis, his nearest rival in the GOP primary race, with all other candidates in the single digits. A third post-debate poll from the Morning Consult found an even larger 58%-14% lead for Trump.

DeSantis and Ramaswamy — who topped The Post’s poll as the best-performing candidates in Wednesday’s debate — were both in Iowa Saturday to meet voters and stump for their support in January’s all-important Iowa caucuses.

First-time candidate Ramaswamy, 38, told a packed VFW hall in Winterset, Iowa that Trump had been “duped” out of decimating the federal government’s payroll during his single term in office.

“Give Trump my predecessor credit for giving us that Supreme Court,” Ramaswamy said before a crowd of about 250, according to his campaign. “It’s my job to now act on stronger authority, not to be duped.”

DeSantis, 44, avoided any mention of Trump as he spoke in Algona, Iowa, but slammed Joe Biden for presiding over an “America in decline” — particularly his disastrous handling of the crisis at the US-Mexico border.

“These elites … they don’t want to have to deal with what’s happening at the border,” DeSantis said

“What Texas has done, by sending so many to Manhattan and other parts of New York City, it’s been very effective,” he said. “You now have the mayor of New York City saying Biden needs to do something about that border.”

“This election has got to be focused on holding Joe Biden accountable,” DeSantis said.