Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and his presidential campaign have struggled to catch up to former President Donald Trump who has a massive lead, at this point in the campaign season, but it seems he’s also got some serious competition for second place from a rather surprising opponent. Which means that the hits are going to keep on coming for the conservative movement’s rising star, unless something happens to change the political landscape over the next several months.
According to The Western Journal’s latest report, “DeSantis had separated himself from the pack chasing former President Donald Trump, but one poll now shows him tied with another candidate for second place in the GOP primary. That candidate is conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.”
A survey published by Kaplan Strategies on Thursday has Ramaswamy and DeSantis tied with 12 percent support among likely GOP voters.
2024 National Republican Primary
• Trump — 48% (+36)
• Ramaswamy — 12%
• DeSantis — 12%
• Christie — 5%
• Scott — 5%
• Pence — 4%
• Haley — 3%
• Hutchinson — 1%
• Undecided — 10%⦿ Kaplan Strategies | July 17-18
⦿ n= 800 LV | MoE: ±3.5%https://t.co/K5Oljeq6zz pic.twitter.com/x7RIVnFLxk— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) July 20, 2023
While Ramaswamy is now gaining on DeSantis’ second place position, it’s important to point out that the vast majority of voters and pundits think he’s a long shot for nabbing the nomination. A poll that was released earlier in July had him at 10 percent support, behind DeSantis by 6 points. But the gap has now closed. There’s still a whole lot of ground to cover in order to overtake Trump as Republican voters first choice for the nomination.
“A news release for the survey noted that Ramaswamy may have a higher ceiling than DeSantis, considering that he is less well-known among GOP voters but has the same level of support. The poll also shows that Trump continues to dominate the Republican field with 48 percent support and a 69 percent favorability rating. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott tied for third place with 5 percent support,” the WJ report said.
I don’t know which of you out there is supporting Christie, but please, for the love of all that’s holy, stop it. It’s not funny. He is a terrible choice for any sort of leadership position. That shouldn’t need to be explained at this point and I’m terribly disappointed in some of you.
Moving along.
“Behind them were former Vice President Mike Pence with 4 percent support, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley with 3 percent, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson with 1 percent, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum with no support. In a straw poll taken at the Turning Point Action conference last week, DeSantis, who did not attend the event, garnered just 4.3 percent support. Ramaswamy received 2 percent, while Trump crushed the competition with 85 percent support among attendees,” the report continued.
Another problem that DeSantis’ campaign is having to deal with is spending money at nearly the speed of light, which has led to several of his staffers being let go. Many folks have opted not to support the Florida governor due to the individuals he has accepted money from, along with the fact that many of the others who have donated to his campaign have hit their contribution limit and are not able to donate more.
Still, it’s early in the cycle. Anything can happen. Things are really touch-and-go because of Trump’s future being uncertain as he faces down three indictments which are focused on slapping him with felony charges that would bring his presidential campaign to a premature end.
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