Former President Donald Trump still holds a commanding lead in the Iowa Republican caucus, but there’s now a neck-and-neck race for second place, according to a poll released Monday.

The Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll has 43% of likely GOP caucusgoers supporting Trump as their first choice for president, up one percentage point from August despite him facing 91 felony charges across four indictments. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley are tied for second place with 16% each. In August, DeSantis was sitting at 19% in the poll, while Haley was at just 6%.

“You just have [Haley] rising. You have DeSantis kind of holding on for second place” pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., which conducted the survey, told the Des Moines Register. “But both of them are on ground that you could only describe as shaky compared to the solid ground that Donald Trump stands on.

“If anything, he’s showing improvement.”

The Democratic National Committee sent two emails within 20 minutes of each other Monday morning attacking Haley, who Monday filed to appear on the primary ballot in her home state of South Carolina.

“Don’t be fooled: Nikki Haley is no different from the rest of the MAGA anti-abortion extremists,” DNC spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika said in a statement. “As governor, she signed an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest, and now she’s doubling down by supporting a national abortion ban on the presidential campaign trail. When it comes to ripping away reproductive freedom, Haley is just as out of touch as the rest of the 2024 field, and we’re making sure every single voter knows it.” 

Another DNC email portrayed Haley’s time as South Carolina’s governor as “a Model for the MAGA Agenda.”

According to FiveThirtyEight.com’s polling averages, Haley has a four-point lead over DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire and a nearly seven-point advantage over him for second place in South Carolina, where Haley served as governor from 2011-17.

“We have to start being a strong and proud America again,” Haley said Monday during a speech at the Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina. “We did it starting in South Carolina. We're going to finish it at the Oval Office.”

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who last week shifted the bulk of his campaign resources to Iowa, was in fourth place in the poll at 7%. Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie each had 4%. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum had 3%. And former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson was polling at 1%. 

Before former Vice President Mike Pence dropped out of the race Saturday, 2% of Republicans surveyed said he was their first choice.