Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign is not off to the start that he imagined.
No one expected events to play out like this.
And a surprise poll shows this Republican defeating Trump.
Donald Trump entered the 2024 race as the GOP frontrunner for president.
But in the wake of the Republicans falling short of expectations in the midterm elections GOP voters are taking stock of their options in the 2024 race.
Some conservatives are wondering if Trump as the nominee for a third time is really the best option.
If one Republican emerged from the midterm elections smelling like a rose it was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis routed Democrat Charlie Crist in a 19-point landslide.
What impressed conservatives was the fact that DeSantis grew his winning from a margin in 2018 of 30,000 votes to over 1.5 million in 2022 without moderating his positions or moving left.
DeSantis established himself as the leader of the red state resistance to COVID lockdowns and mask and vaccine mandates.
DeSantis signed legislation banning critical race theory and grooming children into transgenderism in the classroom.
And DeSantis showed Republicans how to throw a brushback pitch under the chin of woke corporations when DeSantis signed a bill stripping Disney of its special tax breaks after Disney tried to kill the Parental Rights in Education legislation.
Trump’s endorsed candidates going 2-14 in key races and DeSantis’s blowout win bestowed the aura of conservative fighter and winner on DeSantis that Trump possessed from 2015 to 2021.
And Republican voters’ 2024 preferences are appearing to shift with a Wall Street Journal poll showing DeSantis leading Trump 52 to 38 in a 2024 primary matchup.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
In a hypothetical contest between the two, Mr. DeSantis beats Mr. Trump, 52% to 38%, among likely GOP primary voters contemplating a race in which the first nomination votes will be cast in just over a year.
The poll found that Mr. DeSantis is both well-known and well-liked among Republicans who say they are likely to vote in a party primary or nominating contest, with 86% viewing the Florida governor favorably, compared with 74% who hold a favorable view of Mr. Trump. Only one in 10 likely GOP primary voters said they didn’t know enough about Mr. DeSantis to venture an opinion of him.
Among all registered voters, Mr. DeSantis is viewed favorably by 43%, compared with 36% for the former president. Favorable views of Mr. Trump were the lowest recorded in Journal polling dating to November 2021 and have been pulled down by a decline in positive feelings among Republicans. Since March, his favorable rating among GOP voters has fallen to 74% from 85%, while the share who view him unfavorably has risen to 23% from 13%.
This poll also found that DeSantis was popular with voters whereas Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Mike Pence and Donald Trump were all underwater.
WSJ poll favs/unfavs:
Biden 43/54
Trump 36/59
DeSantis 43/39 (82% name ID)
Harris 35/55
Pence 30/54
The Fed 36/40— Ken Thomas (@KThomasDC) December 14, 2022
In 2024 Republican voters are looking for a proven fighter that can also win.
And in the aftermath of the 2022 election many in the party believe that candidate is Ron DeSantis.
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