Florida Guv Ron DeSantis falls behind two Indian-Americans in New Hampshire GOP poll
Washington (PTI): Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, once considered a chief rival of former president Donald Trump, has fallen behind two Indian-American presidential candidates in the latest GOP polls in the crucial early primary state of New Hampshire, a CNN survey showed.
According to the CNN/University of New Hampshire poll, Trump continues to be the first choice of 39 per cent of likely GOP primary voters in the first-in-the-nation primary state.
"That lags a bit behind his performance nationally, where Republican primary polling routinely finds Trump with majority support," the news channel reported.
Surprising is the continued sliding down of DeSantis. He has fallen behind two Indian-American candidates -- entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. While Ramaswamy's popularity continues to rise, Haley is fast catching up.
Ramaswamy now is next to Trump with 13 per cent support, closely followed by Haley at 12 per cent and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie at 11 per cent, CNN reported.
"DeSantis' decline stems from a sharp drop-off among moderates, from 26 per cent backing him in July to 6 per cent now. He fell a smaller 8 points among conservatives," the opinion poll said.
According to the CNN poll, Ramaswamy's increase is concentrated more among those who are not registered Republicans (up 16 points since July with that group while holding relatively steady among registered Republicans) and among younger likely voters (he's up 28 points among those younger than 35 and 11 points among those in the 35-49 age group while holding about even among those aged 50 or above).
Haley's increase is a bit larger among those with more formal education (up 11 points among those who have completed some postgraduate work and 15 points among other college graduates) and among moderates (she gained 18 points with the group) while her support among conservatives is roughly even with July, the poll showed.
The Trump campaign cheered the poll results saying that "Ron DeSantis has plummeted to the fifth place in the Granite State".
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rupee hits record intra-day low in early trade, falls 12 paise to 92.37 against US dollar
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee slumped 12 paise to its record low of 92.37 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday as global crude oil prices showed no signs of easing amid the ongoing West Asian conflict.
A stronger greenback, heavy FII selling and weak sentiments in the domestic equity markets further weighed on the rupee, according to forex traders.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit opened at 92.33 and slipped further to hit its record intra-day low of 92.37 against the US dollar, down 12 paise from its previous close.
ALSO READ: PM Modi speaks to Iranian president, discusses 'serious' situation in West Asia
The rupee touched a fresh intra-day low of 92.36 on Thursday and closed the session 24 paise down at its lowest level of 92.25 against the US dollar.
"Oil prices remained elevated after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is closed permanently till the resolution of the crisis. The dollar index also rose, European and Asian currencies all fell against the dollar," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
The rupee has remained vulnerable and in the absence of the RBI could have reached 93.00 levels, he added.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 99.77.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 4.99 per cent at USD 96.57 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex plunged 560.06 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 75,474.36, while the Nifty tanked 184.45 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 23,454.70.
Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 7,049.87 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, retail inflation moved up to 3.21 per cent in February compared to 2.74 per cent in the preceding month, driven mainly by higher food prices, government data released on Thursday showed.
