Ranked choice poll examines the Republican presidential field after second debate

 Fair Vote

• Nationally, Donald Trump remains the clear front-runner (with and without ranked choice voting). Trump leads with 48% of voters’ first choices, similar to the 49% he received in late August. In a ranked choice voting tabulation, Trump beats Nikki Haley, 62%-38%.
• In the early state sample, Trump leads with 43% of voters’ first choices. But in an RCV tabulation, Ron DeSantis earns a majority faster than Trump and comes out on top, 51-49% (within the poll’s margin of error). 
• In the early state sample, four candidates are real rivals to Trump, but polling shows that DeSantis is the only candidate who beats Trump head-to-head. Along with DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Chris Christie are all within the margin of error during the round-by-round count, suggesting any of them could make it to the final round in an RCV contest. In other words, the field could consolidate around any of these contenders. 
• Nationally, a large but decreasing share of Trump voters are completely committed to their choice; other voters are more flexible. Among Trump voters, 40% are completely committed (representing 19% of all poll respondents), down from 48% completely committed in August (representing 23% of all respondents).
• Nationally, Republican voters support ranked choice voting. 62% of respondents would support using ranked choice voting in 2024 primary elections, compared to 24% who would not support it.