Rumors of Governor Ron DeSantis’s death have been greatly exaggerated. After Trump announced his looming arrest, DeSantis seemed to criticize him and weasel around the issue, while maintaining tepid support for the former president. Understandably, Trump’s team wasn’t happy, and at first it didn’t look like GOP voters were either. Two national polls had DeSantis one to two points ahead of Trump before the big blowup. Two other polls that came out since then had Trump ahead on average 15 points.
But in the early states, things are looking up for the Florida governor. An Axios poll for Iowa has DeSantis at 45% to Trump’s 37%. In New Hampshire, the two candidates are tied at 39% each.
However, these polls only takes two candidates into account. The news isn’t as bright for DeSantis once Nikki Haley and Mike Pence are factored in. That creates a tie in Iowa, and in New Hampshire, DeSantis is down 12 points.
This spells an easy strategy for Trump. The more candidates in the race, the better it is for him. There are some notable GOP candidates not named DeSantis expected to jump in as well, with South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expected to enter the fray. The key would be to keep them in the race until at least the fourth early voting state. But it shows that if they drop out before New Hampshire voting and endorse DeSantis, Trump could be knocked out. Although that’s probably wishful thinking on the Florida governor’s part.
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