By PRFSU Writers 2023-2024 
By: Nicholas Francis
Photo Credit: U.S. March 5, 2023. REUTERS/Allison Dinner
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a frontrunner for the Republican Party in the upcoming 2024 Presidential election, has seen a sharp decrease in polling and popularity. Initially under “FiveThirtyEight,” on January 1, 2023, DeSantis closely trailed Donald Trump’s 43.4% in the Republican national polling with 37.3%. However, after the March indictment of Donald Trump, DeSantis had lost nearly half of his supporters—according to Reuters, the increase in GOP support for Trump after the charge was due to controversy surrounding its political motivation. At the time, leading Republican contender in the presidential primaries and former ambassador, Nikki Haley, stated, “[The indictment] is more about revenge than it is about justice.” Also, during the week of August 6, the proportion of GOP voters supporting DeSantis fell by 2.8 points, from 18.5 percent to 15.7 percent (Newsweek).”
Until May 24, 2023, when DeSantis announced his 2024 presidential candidacy, DeSantis declined the notion that he would run for office. On the other hand, the current frontrunner, Former President Donald Trump, announced his candidacy for president on November 15, 2022. The later entry into the race by DeSantis was considered a mistake among certain members of the political opposition, including Chris LaCitiva. The delay between DeSantis announcing his presidential run and Trump’s initial campaigning allowed the Trump campaign roughly four more months of preparation and strategizing, leading to a 24-point lead over DeSantis at the beginning of his campaign.
DeSantis initially announced his campaign through X, formerly known as Twitter, with the assistance of Elon Musk. This announcement was marked by technical issues, and some users had difficulty accessing the announcement, which promoted immediate and negative backlash. Over 600 thousand users signed on to the purely audio announcement, covering several topics, including DeSantis’ Disney dispute and the candidate’s views on gun control. Not only were thousands of users denied hearing the start of this campaign, but the total number of listeners amassed was much less than some of the other campaign launches and announcements of this campaign season. DeSantis did appear on Fox following his campaign announcement and received over 2 million viewings.
However, these numbers are still lower than other campaign announcements. For instance, the April 4th, 2023 campaign launch from the Trump Campaign amassed 6.6 million viewers on Fox News alone. Following the launch, the DeSantis camp expressed concerns over the campaign’s progress. According to Vox, “A top spokesperson for DeSantis’s super PAC admitted that the campaign was “way behind” and called Trump the “runaway frontrunner.”
Before the launch of his presidential campaign, the social legislation enacted by DeSantis had stirred controversy amongst supporters and detractors. Specifically, an abortion bill passed by DeSantis had piqued the attention of specific funders, such as Thomas Peterffy, who believed a line had been crossed. Peterffy remarked, “I have put myself on hold. Because of his stance on abortion and book banning… myself, and a bunch of friends, are holding our powder dry (The Guardian).”
DeSantis had also signed off on a bill wherein “Universities are not allowed to have majors or minors that include: Critical Theory, including, but not limited to, Critical Race Theory, Critical Race Studies, Critical Ethnic Studies, Radical Feminist Theory, Radical Gender Theory, Queer Theory, Critical Social Justice, or Intersectionality” (Florida Pheonix). Protests resulted from these actions, including groups gathering outside the Capitol Building in Tallahassee in response to what opponents have labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” initiative. Protests and outrage against these bills were mainly limited to Democratic individuals and groups.
Now, some Republicans have also begun to stray from the DeSantis campaign. Renowned GOP pollster Whit Ayres denotes, “The way he has run his campaign, constantly tacking to the right, has turned off many of those people who were initially attracted to him.” Former Republican Representative Barbara Comstock explained what she perceived as the effects of DeSantis’ actions regarding social issues of contention, stating, “He’s latched onto a TV issue, and it’s not what even the average Republican cares about. Nobody knows what it means. My parents watch Fox News, and they don’t know what it means.”
Despite some initial campaign troubles, some DeSantis supporters are as determined as ever to support his campaign. One of his donors, Dan Eberhart, said, “There’s no perfect formula, but DeSantis is working to get it right. I’m still supporting and still think he wins.” Other supporters and donors were content with the different techniques and approaches to the DeSantis campaign. Greg Cook, founder of doTerra, says, “The campaign team owned up to strategically trying a number of different approaches and have made some changes based on the data. The team is becoming more focused and efficient on what will give Gov. DeSantis the best opportunity to introduce himself to the early nominating states and the nation.”
Outside of social issues, the campaign has also been focused on “winning” Iowa. Historically, Iowa has been a critical swing state in past presidential elections, with former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all winning the state’s Caucus. The campaign’s focus on Iowa, while trailing roughly 24 points behind Trump in national polls, has political operatives questioning if DeSantis has lost momentum in the national movement. In hopes of a surge, a 15 million dollar fundraising expense was accrued in campaigning, specifically in Iowa. “Since the caucuses began in 1972, there have been 18 caucus winners between the two parties” (Des Moines Register.) DeSantis’ motivation likely lies in the fact that over 50% of these caucus winners have gained their party’s nomination.
By the week of July 15, 2024, when the nomination for the 2024 Republican presidential candidate will be held, DeSantis must shift the GOP percentage of voter support to win the nomination. We’ve witnessed statements in the past two debates concerning immigration, abortion, and foreign affairs. The third and forthcoming presidential debates, with participation requiring candidates to have over 4% of support as evidenced in the current polling and 70,000 unique donors, will be an avenue for DeSantis to continue spreading his campaign messaging in the hopes of securing a nomination in next year’s November election.