Nikki Haley pulls past Ron DeSantis in new poll in Iowa with just four days before the caucuses - but still trails Trump by 34 POINTS

Trump is at 54 per cent in the latest USA Today / Suffolk pollHaley is at 20 and DeSantis is at 13 

Nikki Haley’s steady rise over her second-tier competitors in national polling is carrying over into Iowa, where she has passed Ron DeSantis to earn second place in new poll just four days before the Iowa Caucuses.

That is the good news for the former South Carolina governor in a new Suffolk University poll that comes after Haley and DeSantis traded blows onstage at Drake University in a Wednesday night debate.

The bad news for Haley is that she still trails frontrunner Donald Trump by 34 percentage points.

Still, the prospect of a second-place finish in Iowa gives Haley the potential opportunity to seize a measure of momentum out a state with an older and more conservative electorate, where evangelical voters hold sway.

The USA Today / Suffolk poll has Haley at 20 points, Trump at 54, and DeSantis at 13 percent. Other recent polls have had Haley and DeSantis tied, with both still trailing Trump by more than 30 points.

Republican presidential candidate former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has pulled ahead of Ron DeSantis in a new Iowa poll ahead of Monday’s caucuses

It is DeSantis and a pro-DeSantis super PAC that have built the more substantial Iowa operation, and the caucuses are set to be a test of his door-knocking and get-out-the vote operation, even after Haley said in the angry debate that his campaign had ‘exploded’ and accused him telling repeated ‘lies.’

DeSantis shot back that Haley has denied positions she espoused in comments captured on video.

DeSantis and Haley clahsed on the debate stage Wednesday night. Both were back on the trail Thursday

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who is far ahead in Iowa surveys, was back in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday

The poll still includes New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who dramatically suspended his campaign Thursday evening, shortly after a hot mic moment where he could be heard saying Haley would get ‘smoked.’

‘We’ve done over 150 town halls, and we have talked to every person, we’ve answered every question, we’ve shaked every hand,’ Haley told Fox & Friends Thursday morning. ‘We feel good about this. I mean, look, politics isn’t personal for me. The fellas might take it personally. It’s not for me.’

Haley is also ahead of DeSantis in the Real Clear Politics average, but still 35 points behind Trump.