A new survey from Fox News has uncovered a remarkable development: ex-President Donald Trump holds a tremendous 30-point advantage over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis among Republican presidential primary voters. The Emerson poll has reported that the number has risen from the January lead of 55% to 29%.[0] Trump is now leading DeSantis by eight percentage points, despite trailing behind the Florida governor by four percentage points in a previous Yahoo News/YouGov poll.
It is said that Trump intends to criticize DeSantis for his popularity and for not remaining loyal to him after Trump endorsed his 2018 gubernatorial bid.[1] According to Axios, Trump intends to emphasize DeSantis’ allegiance to the former House Speaker Paul Ryan, a figure from the GOP’s past.[1]
Meanwhile, Biden leads DeSantis by 4 points and Haley by 3 points in separate match-ups, according to the poll. The poll results suggest that if the general election were to take place today, Trump would be the winner with 46% of the vote, compared to Biden’s 42%.[2] In comparison to Trump, DeSantis is behind by 4 points, and Haley trails Biden by 3 points.
COVID has been a major focus of President Trump’s criticism of Governor DeSantis, despite his refusal to impose mask mandates.[3] Trump aims to criticize DeSantis’ wariness during the initial stages of the pandemic — and attempt to make the matter a tie.[4] Last week, DeSantis faced criticism for his unclear remarks during a Fox News interview about whether to keep offering financial and military aid to Ukraine.[3] Trump aims to present DeSantis as hesitant on the conflict, whereas he himself remains devoted to the MAGA stance of decreasing assistance.[3]
Trump is attempting to depict DeSantis as being in thrall to former House Speaker Paul Ryan.[3] On Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, he lambasted Ryan this week as a “couldn’t get elected dogcatcher,” and declared that he should either step down or be dismissed from his role as a board member of Fox Corp.[3] DeSantis stated to Jesse Watters from Fox News this week that he perceives the criticisms of Trump as “background noise”, adding that “He used to say how great of a governor I was.[4] And then I win a big victory and all of a sudden, you know, he had different opinions.[4] And so you could take that for what it’s worth.”[4] Suddenly, after I achieved a major victory, he had a change of opinion.[4] Therefore, you may take that as you will.
0. “Breaking News: Trump Makes Comeback with 30-Point Lead Over DeSantis in Latest GOP Poll – He is Favored for a …” Shockya.com, 2 Mar. 2023, https://www.shockya.com/news/2023/03/02/breaking-news-trump-makes-comeback-with-30-point-lead-over-desantis-in-latest-gop-poll-he-is-favored-for-a-2024-win
1. “Trump drafts 5-part attack plan to scare Ron DeSantis off from 2024” Business Insider, 3 Mar. 2023, https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-drafts-5-part-attack-plan-scare-ron-desantis-2024-2023-3
2. “Trump easily beats DeSantis in GOP primary: poll” WWTI – InformNNY.com, 28 Feb. 2023, https://www.informnny.com/hill-politics/trump-easily-beats-desantis-in-gop-primary-poll
3. “Trump’s 5-Point Plan to DeStroy DeSantis Has Little Chance” Ricochet.com, 3 Mar. 2023, https://ricochet.com/1394281/trumps-5-point-plan-to-destroy-desantis-has-little-chance/
4. “Trump’s war with DeSantis heats up with details of 2024 battle plan” The Guardian US, 3 Mar. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/03/donald-trump-ron-desantis-2024-republican-primary
