Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis — a close ally of former President Donald Trump — is widely considered a potential 2024 Republican presidential primary contender in the event that the former president himself decides against running again, but recent polling reveals that DeSantis’s standing among Republicans isn’t exactly as strong as he might hope.
A recent survey released by the GOP-aligned pollster Echelon Insights that was conducted in mid-May revealed DeSantis with 22 percent of the support in a hypothetical 2024 Republican presidential primary match-up. In that same survey, former Vice President Mike Pence had 14 percent of the support — which isn’t that far off from DeSantis, especially when factoring in the fact that the poll is so far ahead of any actual voting in the primary race in question. DeSantis’s support in the Echelon survey is also substantially lower than the support he got in a particular earlier poll.
In that earlier survey from the Trafalgar Group, which was conducted across the very end of April and early May, DeSantis had 35 percent of the support, while Pence had 10 percent — and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was in the middle with 15 percent. Meanwhile, another poll from mid-May that was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates actually found Pence with a slight lead, registering 19 percent of the support as for the former vice president, while DeSantis got 18 percent. Trump has publicly expressed support for DeSantis to the point of acknowledging that his name would be under consideration as a potential 2024 running mate for Trump if the former president runs again — but that support hasn’t been enough to keep DeSantis out in the lead, apparently.
In Florida, DeSantis has — among other maneuvers — long refused to impose serious measures in response to COVID-19 that have been in place in other states, although Florida (like every other state) now has COVID-19 vaccines available for all of its adult residents. He also recently signed voting restrictions into law in line with the suppressive new election regulations imposed by Republicans elsewhere. Trump has not yet committed one way or the other on the question of whether he’ll run for the presidency again, and whichever way that goes will no doubt have a serious impact on the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Trump allies like DeSantis would probably stay out of the race, instead backing Trump’s campaign.
