DeSantis Reaches a New Low

A new national poll released Wednesday brought even more bad news to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as his campaign limps toward 2024.

DeSantis’s Republican support in the presidential primary hit its lowest level of the year in a new Quinnipiac University national poll.

Just 18% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters indicated support for the Florida governor.

Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, continues to enjoy an overwhelming 57% support among the same base.

Quinnipiac pointed out that, back in February, DeSantis was only 6 points behind Trump, but now he trails by 39 points.

In the same poll, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy took the third place spot with 5% support. Former Vice President Mike Pence had slightly less at 4% support while former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott (SC), and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie each tied with about 3% support.

DeSantis Trends Down

DeSantis is in the midst of a campaign reset after a series of missteps and hard hits from Trump.

His staff has gone through two rounds of layoffs and he recently replaced his campaign manager.

His allies and supporters are eagerly anticipating his performance in next week’s Republican primary debate, which they hope will serve much-needed boost as Trump is not expected to participate.

Another strategy they hope will make a difference is DeSantis’s new openness to interviews with mainstream media outlets, where he is often questioned about his stance on cultural issues in opposition to progressive views.

In his most recent interview with Time, he was asked how he would respond if his children turn out to be gay or transgender.

“Well, my children are my children,” DeSantis said. “We’ll leave that — we’ll leave that between my wife and I.”

He then redirected the questioning toward parents’ rights, which has been a focus of his campaign.

“As a parent right now, I can’t take my six-year-old daughter and get her a tattoo, even if I want to do that,” he said in the interview. “You don’t have the right to do things that are going to be destructive to kids… I think that they get bullied into thinking this is the right decision.”