Tallahassee, Florida - Presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis is currently being challenged for his second-place position in the 2024 Republican primary race by Nikki Haley.

On Thursday, CNN released the results of a poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire, which has Donald Trump predictably sitting in first place with a 42% lead among the state's voters.

But surprisingly, Haley has managed to take the second place spot at 20% while DeSantis has been bumped down all the way to fourth with only 9%.

This comes as yet another huge blow to the DeSantis campaign, which has failed to make much leeway with voters since he joined the race.

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Haley, on the other hand, has seen a steady rise in polling across the country in recent months and has snagged major donor support. DeSantis' camp is definitely taking notice and is coming up with more aggressive ways to combat her rise.

On Wednesday, the DeSantis campaign released new merchandise in their store meant to criticize his opponent – a shirt that reads "Always Watching" with the quote "every person on social media should be verified by their name," and a $30 "Official Internet Identification Card."

The merch mocks comments Haley made during a recent Fox News interview where she vowed to force social media companies to implement stronger verification requirements if she becomes president, arguing that not doing so presents a "national security threat."

DeSantis, who typically uses social media to slam President Joe Biden, "deep state" liberals, and "wokeness", responded in an X post where he described her proposition as "unconstitutional" and "dangerous."

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The two candidates haven't sparred much during the Republican Party's first three debate events, but we may see this change as other candidates drop out – most recently Mike Pence and Tim Scott – and the field continues to narrow.

DeSantis and Haley will possibly face off again at the next GOP debate, which will be hosted by NewsNation on Wednesday, December 6, 2023.