- Trump blasted polls.
- DeSantis beat Trump 56% to 33%.
- DeSantis has quickly emerged as the leading alternative to Trump.
Former President Trump blasted polls showing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis beating him for the 2024 GOP candidacy.
“Great polling has just come out on me versus various others, including [President Joe] Biden, but I still have to put up with the same old stuff from The Wall Street Journal, which has lost an incalculable amount of influence over the years, and Fox News,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
In a Wall Street Journal poll issued Wednesday, DeSantis led Trump 52% to 38%. Fox News reported a Wall Street Journal and USA Today/Suffolk University poll showing DeSantis beating Trump 56% to 33%.
DeSantis has quickly emerged as the leading alternative to Trump among GOP primary supporters. He won’t launch his candidacy until after Florida’s legislative session in the spring or summer. He beat Charlie Crist by over 20 points last month and is Trump’s biggest foe.
Dan Eberhart, a GOP fundraiser who backs DeSantis, said Trump is afraid of being abandoned by the GOP. “Trump will fight DeSantis for his reign. Republican civil war looms.”
Allies of Trump note that primaries are more than a year away and that polls are snapshots in time.
“For every terrible poll, there’s a positive poll,” a Trump aide remarked.
DeSantis adviser declined to comment.
The matches assume Trump and DeSantis are the only GOP primary candidates. Former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley all considering runs.
Some polls show Trump doing well, especially if the field is large. A Politico/Morning Consult poll put him at 45%, compared to 30% for DeSantis, 7% for Pence, and the rest among a dozen other contenders.
A GOP strategist who worked on Trump’s 2020 campaign compared DeSantis’ early lead to Rick Perry’s in the 2012 primary. The strategist said DeSantis is in “a really good place” but may not have time to “harness that enthusiasm.”
The expert said it remains to be seen if DeSantis can withstand a Trump onslaught.
The strategist said, “DeSantis hasn’t been punched.”
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