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26%
Los Angeles Times poll: “Trump has the support of 44% of California’s likely Republican primary voters, while DeSantis was backed by 26%… That’s a notable reversal of their standings three months ago, when DeSantis led Trump by 8 percentage points among the state’s GOP voters.”
“Ron DeSantis says that Donald Trump is a loser and that the time has come for Republican primary voters and caucus attenders to leave him behind and get on with the task of winning elections. This is an odd way to address Trump voters, to put it mildly. You’re-a-loser-if-you-keep-voting-for-that-loser is not a winning message.”
“On television, DeSantis can come across as savvy, reasonably well media-trained, and sometimes aggressive. (His wife, Casey, is a former local news anchor.) But in person, I immediately sensed a very different potential candidate: a guarded politician who had no interest in actually engaging with other humans, and was perhaps even a little scared of the spotlight. He had trouble making eye contact with people in the crowd. After five minutes of unmemorable remarks, we were quickly ushered out of the room ….”
“Governor Ron DeSantis is a job killing moron who cares more about his own political ambitions and culture wars than Florida and our future. According to him, ‘woke makes you go broke’ but this is another example of how it’s actually the complete opposite. DeSantis is not who you want for President — ever.”
— Fla. Rep. Anna Eskamani (D – Dist. 42) reacting to the news that Disney will pull a $17 billion project out of her district. The decision was announced amid ongoing attacks from Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis after Disney objected to the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which punishes any acknowledgement of nonheterosexual orientation in public schools.
“The problem for DeSantis, who appears on the verge of officially entering the 2024 race, is that in order to make the case he is more electable than Trump this time around, he needs to debunk the lie that Trump actually beat Biden last time. … As Republican consultant Alex Conant told Politico: ‘If a candidate can’t dispose of a fake issue like who won the election, how can voters expect them to handle the real issues?’”
“He’s got no personality. And I don’t think he’s got a lot of political skill.”
— Donald Trump, in an interview with The Messenger, on why Gov. Ron DeSantis is not polling very well.
“Trump is winning on three levels in his shadow primary against DeSantis. First, to the extent that polls matter this early in the race, Trump has widened the gap between himself and DeSantis since the start of 2023. … Second, Trump has out-hustled and out-maneuvered DeSantis on endorsements from elected officials. … Third, in outworking DeSantis on endorsements, Trump is also making it easy for the press to explain in excruciating detail all of the ways in which DeSantis is blowing it.”
“I’m not a paid assassin. When you’re waking up for your 45th morning at the Hilton Garden Inn in Manchester, you better think you can win, because that walk from the bed to the shower, if you don’t think you can win, it’s hard.”
— Former Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by Politico, on the idea of running for president just to take out Donald Trump.
43%
A new National Public Affairs poll in South Carolina finds Donald Trump way ahead in the Republican presidential race with 43% support, followed by Ron DeSantis at 21%, Nikki Haley at 19%, Tim Scott at 7% and Mike Pence at 2%.
