A post-midterm election poll found that Republican support for a Ron DeSantis presidential bid in 2024 had migrated away from former President Donald Trump.
The YouGov survey, which polled 1,500 U.S. adult citizens from Nov. 9-11, showed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis leading the previous president by seven points – 42% to Trump’s 35%.
Trump is leading DeSantis by two points amongst “strong” Republicans (45 to 43 percent), while DeSantis surpasses Trump amongst “not very strong” Republicans (38 to 31 percent) and individuals that lean Republican (45 to 21 percent).
In the same poll conducted in October, Republicans strongly supported Donald Trump above Ron DeSantis (45 to 35 percent). According to Breitbart News, a Morning Consult poll conducted immediately before the midterm elections found that Republican support for the previous president remained pretty stable:
“Data from a Morning Consult survey showed that support for a possible Donald Trump presidential campaign in 2024 has been largely stable over the last year and a half.”
“While the study claims that Trump’s support has “fallen” in recent months, it is essentially the same as the May 2021 poll, which found that 48 percent of likely GOP voters supported him.”
“It is true, though, that he achieved a high of 57% in Aug. 2022, only to fall back to 48% in Nov.”
Ever since midterm elections, during which Republicans failed to retake the U.S. Senate but are expected to win the U.S. House by thin margins, the previous president has harshly insulted DeSantis (dubbed Ron DeSanctimonious) and accused him of treason.
“In 2017, Ron came to me in dire shape—he had lost in a landslide toAdam Putnam, an extremely good Agriculture Commissioner, who was stocked up with funds and excellent poll numbers,” he wrote.
“Ron had poor approval, awful polls, as well as no money, but he said he could win if I endorsed him.” I did not even know Adam, so I said, ‘Let’s try it, Ron.’ It was as if, to use a horrible word, a nuclear weapon had went off after I endorsed him,” he added.
The previous president also slammed Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (another 2024 contender), claiming that he could not have won the race without his help.
“Young Kin (now there’s an original thought.) would not have won in Virginia without me,” Trump said on social networks on Friday morning.
Youngkin did not respond directly, stating that he “would not call people names.”
“I didn’t see it… You’ve all met me. I never call anyone names. I work very hard to bring the people closer, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here,” Youngkin told journalists.
Trump has also stated that he intends to make a declaration on Nov. 15, which many anticipate would be his announcement that he plans to run for the presidency in 2024.
“I’m going to make a very significant announcement on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” Trump announced last week during a political event in Ohio.