In a new hypothetical 2024 poll by the conservative Club for Growth, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in the lead by nine points against former president Donald Trump.
DeSantis, who has emerged as a prominent GOP rival to former president Trump, is yet to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential race, while Trump announced his bid last year on November 15 in a ceremony held at Mar-a-Lago.
In the tight, seven-way primary poll, Trump was ahead of DeSantis by 37 percent to 33 percent, while Mike Pence was shown to be trailing in the distance at the third position with 7%.
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The poll also revealed that DeSantis and Trump are the runaway favourites in comparison to other potential GOP candidates.
David McIntosh, the President of the conservative Club for Growth stated that his group invited all the named on the poll, including DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Senator Tim Scott to their donor retreat, but did not include Trump.
“What the club believes the Republican Party should do is make sure whoever we nominate will actually win,” McIntosh said. “The party should be open to looking at a different candidate. DeSantis is in the strongest position.”
McIntosh also stated that the club did not consider itself against the former president by any means saying, “Anything’s possible. And if he gets the nomination, we’ll help him try to win. But the last three elections show that he’s lost.”
But the former president’s recent claims seem to take on a different narrative. In a recent interview, Trump stated that DeSantis is “way behind me,” adding, “Every once in a while, Fox will put up a phoney poll … but I’m way ahead in New Hampshire. I’m way ahead in South Carolina. I’m way ahead in Iowa.”
These claims are not quite true, as even polling in Iowa and New Hampshire reveal Ron DeSantis in the lead with double digits.
Even though the former president goes about throwing confident claims, it’s clear as to who appears to be his biggest challenger for the 2024 race; and Trump has already started with the rhetorical mud splattering; calling Ron DeSantis names like “Ron DeSanctimonious” and claiming that he was “ready to drop out” of the race in 2018 and that “he came over and he begged me, begged me, for an endorsement.”
DeSantis on his part, has chosen not to engage and pointlessly waste time in disproving Trump’s claims and is playing subtle and smart by avoiding clear jibes at Trump and pointing at the scoreboard that says it all.
He seems to stand by Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.”
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