There are two items. First, one on poll numbers.
There was a time back in January when polls showed a breathless, nose-to-nose race between Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. But that time is no more, according to a new Morning Consult poll.
How bad is it for DeSantis? Fifty-nine percent of potential Republican primary voters surveyed said they would support Trump (up from 55% last week), while only 19% backed DeSantis, leaving him significantly closer to the ninth place candidate in the poll, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum—who is at 0%—than to Trump.
RELATED: What ‘Make America Florida’ Might Actually Mean
Trump’s growing strength comes even as he was indicted last week over the retention of classified military and nuclear documents at Mar-a-Lago and at a time when potential Republican primary voters were far more likely to have recently heard something negative (46%) rather than positive (33%) about Trump.
DeSantis, meanwhile, has trended steadily downwards in recent months. In early January, he trailed Trump by just 11 percentage points, 45-34, in Morning Consult’s tracker. DeSantis has hemorrhaged supporting since then and even trailed Trump by 44 points in mid-May.
Other key takeaways from the survey include:
- 43% of Trump voters say DeSantis is their top second choice if Trump exited the 2024 race.
- However, more of Trump’s supporters (15%) than DeSantis’ (4%) are uncertain about where their loyalties would fall if their first choice weren’t in the race.
- Vice President Mike Pence placed third in the poll, with support from 8% of those surveyed.
- South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott clocked in at 4% support, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have 3%, Christie has 2%, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has 1% and Burgum has 0%.
RELATED: Read the Full Indictment Against Donald Trump
The survey was taken among 3,419 potential Republican primary voters polled between June 9 and June 11, and has a +/- 2-percentage-point margin of error.
Strongly Opposed by Floridians
Could DeSantis’ fall from grace be the result of misplaced priorities during this year’s legislative session, including what some critics have called his war on “woke” and his “mean-spirited fascism”? Results of a recent survey by The Hub from April 26-May 3, 2023, showed that several key bills passed by Republicans in the legislative session, and signed into law by DeSantis, are strongly opposed by a majority of people across the state:
- 78% of Floridians oppose permitless carry of concealed weapons (20% support).
- 56% don’t support the state’s near-total abortion ban (41% support).
- 86% oppose new legislation allowing the governor and legislative leaders to conceal their travel records from the public.
- 60% oppose changing the state’s “resign-to-run” law as DeSantis prepares to launch a campaign for president (31% support).
That item does deal with poll numbers, where the poll is linked. And it does note DeSantis as a popular second choice, ahead of Mike Pence and Tim Scott. Yet the link yields a summary article, not details of polling methodology, not even giving the questions, as posed. Still, Trump by a mile is an unavoidable result.
Second item same outlet as the first, here.
As Gov. Ron DeSantis prepares to sign the state’s record $117 billion budget into law—and veto line-items he objects to—a pair of new reports this week highlight how the Republican governor has wielded his power in the past and what may be influencing those decisions.
Donations Poured In
Last June, DeSantis announced he had vetoed more than $3 billion of earmarks from the state spending plan. These included a $1 billion fund proposed by the House to help the state deal with the cost of inflation, and $20 million for the Moffitt Cancer Center to develop a 775-acre life sciences park, among others.
At the same time, DeSantis announced that he had approved $10 million of taxpayers funds for the Cox Science Center and Aquarium in West Palm Beach that abuts Palm Beach’s “Billionaire’s Row,” Florida’s wealthiest community. DeSantis justified the decision because, he said, the science center is “very popular with the summer camp kids.”
RELATED: As Rents Increase, so Do Big Buck Donations to DeSantis From the Real Estate Industry
But as the Seeking Rents newsletter reported this week, the governor made that decision after he met with and received a $10,000 donation to his campaign from one of his supporters, Howard Cox, who in 2021 also gave $20 million to what was then known as the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium. The science center was renamed after Cox following his gift.
Cox previously gave DeSantis’ former political action committee $15,000 during the candidate’s 2018 run for governor, in addition to another $21,000 after he took office.
A few months after DeSantis approved the $10 million for the science center, Cox gave him another $60,000.
Gambling With Pension Funds
DeSantis has also exerted his power on how state workers’ retirement funds should be invested. He has waged war against what he calls “woke investments,” claiming that investments in these companies threaten state employees’ retirement funds.
At the same time, though, he’s steered state pension funds towards firms run by his donors—a move that appears to be hurting pensioners in Florida.
From there the coverage overlaps items earlier posted at Crabgrass. It does not contradict a thing. It dovetails.
DeSantis is an adept fund raiser, the ethics of his tactics being borderline. Some Minnesotans may be spurred to donate. Contributions to DeSantis clearly are not encouraged by Crabgrass. There are other ways to spend, other candidates.
Opinions can differ. That DeSantis seems to have support in Minnesota - gaining favorable attention from Republican outlets, if not support - is an interesting fact.
DeSantis seems to be an entrenched primary second choice behind the clear Republican front runner for the 2024 Republican primaries. The front runner faces obvious problems that do not attach to DeSantis, which the front runner, Trump, has used as fund raising grist. At a guess Trump has much more money raised already, to advertise, than DeSantis has.
UPDATE: Clearly now is a time DeSantis is shocked, SHOCKED! at Trump being charged over the documents. He ducks the question of whether he'd pardon Trump if Trump is convicted and he is elected. Playing it cute. He is not attacking Trump. His words, now, are supportive. When a gloves-off primary arrives, it will be of interest to see DeSantis speaking then. Will his negative words then be aimed only at Biden? As now. Or will he, treading on eggshells, have a word or two less positive toward Trump and the document charges, the moral dimension of hush money, or will he rewrite the script more than a bit, even a lot?