The purpose of the present invention is to form a resist pattern with sufficient clarity using a resist composition that includes a polymer, said resist composition being able to suppress the occurrence of resist pattern collapse when used as a main-chain scission positive resist. This resist pattern forming method is characterized by including: a step in which a resist film is formed using a positive resist composition that includes a polymer, said polymer having a monomer unit (A) expressed by general formula (1) and a monomer unit (B) expressed by general formula (2), at least one of said monomer unit (A) and said monomer unit (B) having one or more fluorine atoms; an exposure step; and a development step, wherein the development is performed using a developing fluid with a surface tension of 17mN/m or less.