With his campaign not going according to plan from the get-go, Ron DeSantis took to the stage Saturday in front of a crowd of supporters at an office complex in Iowa and announced the latest obstacle: a historically frigid winter storm. I was told that this could happen. Don't prevent him from winning first-ballot states in the Republican presidential nomination process.
“Are you ready to make history on Monday night?” the Florida governor asked during a visit to the West Des Moines office of Never Back Down, a super pac that supports his presidential bid.
“They can throw a blizzard at us, and we're going to fight. They can throw a cold wind at us, and we're going to fight. They can throw media coverage at us, and we're going to fight. They can throw fake polls at us, and we're going to fight. We're going to fight to change this country. is.”
That was as good a summary as any of the challenges he faces in the Iowa Republican caucuses on Monday. All signs point to a clear victory for Donald Trump there, putting the survival of DeSantis' campaign in jeopardy. Launched last May with a glitchy Twitter Live event, the governor's pitch to voters about replicating Florida's conservative makeover on the national stage didn't go over as well as hoped.
In an unapologetic right-wing pitch, DeSantis detailed how he rejected the Trump administration's efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus and made some tough decisions of his own, including vowing: By deploying the rhetoric, he sought to distance the Republican Party from the former president's MAGA policy. A drug trafficker shoots dead a “stone-cold dead man” on the border with Mexico.
But in the days before the Iowa caucuses, that message didn't seem to resonate.
Patrick McDonald, 19, a student at Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian private school in Michigan, who visited the Iowa caucuses said, “He's trying to be Trump's candidate, and he's brought in exaggerated rhetoric.'' “It is seen as copying some of President Trump's policies.” And he says he hasn't decided who he will support when his state's primary is held.
Other Republicans are concerned that DeSantis doesn't have what it takes to beat Joe Biden in November's general election.
After hearing speeches by DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at a recent rally, Nancy Wildanger, 70, left the impression that the latter was the best bet to return a Republican to the White House. .
“She didn't say anything wrong. Mr. DeSantis said nothing wrong. But statistically, I think she has a better chance and we have a better chance. We need someone with more opportunity,” Wildanger said at Haley’s rally in Iowa City on Saturday.
The best-case scenario for DeSantis on Monday is not a campaign to win, but a second-place finish that improves his position as the best Republican alternative to Trump.
“It's good to be the underdog,” DeSantis said Sunday morning. ABC News interview, where he questioned the accuracy of the race's polls. “We'll do well, but I'd rather people exclude us. I'd rather people lower their expectations of us. I think we'll perform better that way. There is a trend.”
The governor may have mentioned the prestigious NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa investigation The report released Saturday found that DeSantis was the first choice of voters with just 16% of voters, compared to 20% for Haley and 48% for Trump.
The move was a testament to how effectively Trump has consolidated support over the past year, despite a flurry of criminal charges filed against him by state and federal prosecutors. Outside of Iowa, polls show Trump leading among Republicans in other early voting states and across the country.
Dave Peterson, a political science professor at Iowa State University, said this also shows how Trump's rivals are determined to wrest power from the incumbent despite losing his 2020 re-election bid to Biden. It highlights what has gone wrong, said Dave Peterson, a political science professor at Iowa State University. State-specific polls This shows that Trump has an overwhelming lead, with Haley and DeSantis tied.
“This race is a referendum on the Republican Party against Donald Trump,” Peterson said. “And because no one else is debating why that should be the choice. So far, Haley and DeSantis have said, 'No, no, no, think of it this way, is it Donald Trump or me? Think of it as a choice.''