DeSantis Closes Gap in New Poll Week After Trump Announces He’s Running for President
Republican gubernatorial candidate for Florida Ron DeSantis with his wife Casey DeSantis speaks during an election night watch party at the Convention Center in Tampa, Florida, on November 8, 2022
Mary ManleyLast week, former US President Donald Trump announced his bid for the 2024 presidential race in what he is touting as “America’s comeback.” Trump used the November 15 announcement at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, to also boast about inaccurate accomplishments during his term. Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis recently inched closer to closing the gap with former US President Donald Trump in regards to the 2024 presidential ticket, a new poll has revealed.Trump, who is hoping to become the first president that would ever serve two nonconsecutive terms, is polling at 46% in a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll. His poll numbers shot down about nine points since last month as a growing number of Senate Republicans turned their back on the presidential candidate who they most likely view as too politically extreme to win the presidency for their party.But Governor Ron DeSantis, who just won his gubernatorial run for reelection and is being eyed as a potential presidential candidate by members in his party, had his polling improve by 11 points since last month, bringing him to a 28% standing for a hypothetical 2024 Republican primary.Though he is still significantly behind Trump in the poll, it underscores how low support for Trump has fallen. The former commander-in-chief was impeached twice, subpoenaed by the January 6 Committee, and relocated classified papers to his Mar-a-Lago home that were reclaimed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after a raid had been conducted at the estate.And according to the poll, if Trump were to not run, DeSantis would have 46% of Republican voters supporting him.“Month after month DeSantis has been rising and now he is cutting significantly into Trump,” Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, said. “If they both run, this will be quite a race and Trump could well lose.”Support for Trump, 76, by other members of the GOP has also fallen since the results of the 2022 midterm elections, when so-called “MAGA Republicans” endorsed by Trump lost their respective races.“There’s no question that Donald Trump is a motivating factor for turnout when it comes to Democratic voters,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) in an interview at Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters.“It depends what the party does. If the party continues to be following the Trump model and is Trumpian and doesn’t go back to their more conservative roots of the traditional Republican Party, I will say, definitely that’ll be a problem,” he added.Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election on Tuesday during a speech in which he reportedly made more than 20 inaccuracies according to CNN’s Daniel Dale and Paul LeBlanc. Earlier this month, the former president attacked his rival, calling him an “average” Republican governor and claimed his win in the 2018 gubernatorial race was owed to Trump himself.”What you learn is all that’s just noise. And really what matters is are you leading? Are you getting in front of issues? Are you delivering results for people? And are you standing up for folks? And if you do that, then none of that stuff matters,” DeSantis told a reporter last week in response to Trump’s increasing attacks on the 44-year-old governor.
