After Iowa Caucus, how do candidates rank in latest SC GOP presidential power rankings?

After former President Donald Trump’s dominant victory in the Iowa Caucus on Monday, the field for the Republican nomination for president further narrowed.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the race after finishing fourth in the Hawkeye State, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ended his White House bid last week.

With voters finally casting ballots, and fewer candidates still in the race, The State made a slight change in the power rankings.

In previous power rankings, The State has asked political observers to rank their top five. In this power ranking, we’ve asked six political observers for their top three candidates when answering this question: If the South Carolina Republican presidential primary were held today, who has the best chance to win.

For every first place vote, the candidate received 3 points. Every second place vote received 2 points. A third place vote received 1 point.

Third Place: Ron DeSantis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who received 6 points in our poll, bet heavily on Iowa still ended up finishing 30 points behind the former president.

DeSantis has argued it is a two-man race between him and Trump. DeSantis contends if he dropped out, his supporters would go to Trump.

“DeSantis spent a lot of time and money in Iowa, touring the entire state to plead his case to caucus-goers while picking up major endorsements along the way,” said Adolphus Belk, a Winthrop University political science professor. “Still, he didn’t gain on Trump (who won by 30 points) and was almost chased down by Haley. The arrow is pointing down.”

As eyes now turn to the Granite State, DeSantis made stops Tuesday in the Palmetto State to put pressure on former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in her home state, before heading to New Hampshire.

“Unless his ground-game in New Hampshire kicks into gear, the real question for DeSantis is whether he can maintain enough momentum coming into South Carolina if he’s limping out of New Hampshire,” said longtime South Carolina political operative Dave Wilson. “To do so, he’s going to have to turn guns on his opponent — and the question for him is whether that opponent is Trump, Haley or Biden. The answer to that question will determine whether he’s upped his game coming into bloodsport we know that is Palmetto State Presidential Politics.”

Second Place: Nikki Haley

Haley received 12 points in the poll and hopes to win her home state when ballots are cast next month.

Before she returns to campaign in South Carolina, she heads to New Hampshire. Some polls in New Hampshire have her within single digits of the former president, and she has been trending upward in the Granite State.

“She wanted a clear second place finish in Iowa to claim that she has momentum, but that didn’t happen,” said Chase Meyer, a political science lecturer at the University of South Carolina. “She is still on track for a good showing in New Hampshire, but to have any chance to win in South Carolina she really needs to do more than have a ‘good showing’ in New Hampshire.”

Haley has argued she is in a two-person race with the former president, and announced Tuesday she wouldn’t debate unless the former president participates.

“If she wants to finish first, she’ll have to change her strategy and actually provide Trump supporters a reason not to vote for him,” said Danielle Vinson, a professor of Politics and International Affairs at Furman University. “With Trump winning more than 50% in Iowa, she can’t just pick up everyone else’s votes as they drop out; she has to win some Trump supporters.”

First Place: Donald Trump

Trump, who continues to be the unanimous first place choice in The State’s ranking, finished with 51% of the vote in the Iowa Caucus. He also continues to lead in the South Carolina polls, despite facing 91 criminal charges, or maybe even because of those charges.

“(It’s) his to lose, like the entire process despite his legal challenges which seemed to help him,” said Chip Felkel, a public and political affairs strategist who worked on the presidential campaigns of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. “The base of the party is all Trump, and unless the non-activists put up a fight, it’s a cakewalk for him.”

Trump has support of most of the biggest political names in South Carolina, including Gov. Henry McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, U.S. Reps. Russell Fry, William Timmons and Joe Wilson, Attorney General Alan Wilson, Secretary of State Mark Hammond, Treasurer Curtis Loftis, and House Speaker Murrell Smith.

“Statewide polling has the front-runner so far ahead that the dust seems to be settling before second-wave candidates arrive,” Wilson said. “Paired with a less-than-expected third place finish for Nikki Haley (in Iowa), and South Carolina is Trump’s to lose. The real question for him is how well do he and DeSantis go after her in New Hampshire, and in surprise visits to South Carolina, to throw a monkey-wrench in Haley’s momentum.”

Trump won all but one county in Iowa and has been the front-runner for much of the race.

“It does not appear that anything is going to stop Trump’s march to the nomination,” Meyer said.