Republican Governor Soars Past Trump in New Poll

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‘ national profile is continuing to soar and Donald Trump should be concerned.

A recent poll reported DeSantis leading Trump by 23 points among a list of potential 2024 Republican presidential candidates.

The USA Today- Suffolk University poll reported that 56 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters prefer DeSantis, while only 33 percent would support Trump. More than 60 percent said they want a nominee who will continue Trump's policies but is not Trump, while 31 percent want the former president to run, according to The Hill.

“Republicans and conservative independents increasingly want Trumpism without Trump,” said David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. 

The poll also found Trump's favorable rating among Republicans dropping from 75 percent in October to 64 percent in December. His unfavorable rating has also risen from 18 percent to 23 percent in that time. 

Pollsters found President Biden leading a hypothetical head-to-head match-up with Trump, 47 percent to 40 percent. DeSantis led Biden in the poll by about 4 points, 47 percent to 43 percent. 

Almost two-thirds of GOP and GOP-leaning voters want DeSantis to run for president in 2024, while only 24 percent do not want him to.

Despite Trump's early entrance to the 2024 primary field the former president has seen his support diminish since the announcement.

Republican donors have pledged to support other candidates they feel stand a higher chance of defeating Joe Biden while others have blamed Trump for this year's disappointing midterm results. (RELATED: Elon Musk Endorses Ron DeSantis for President)

Veteran Republican strategist John Thomas, who backed Trump during the 2016 and 2020 elections, recently told The Washington Examiner that he will not be supporting Trump a third time saying the bombastic Republican isn't a viable candidate to defeat Democrats and take back the White House.

Thomas recently created the Ron to the Rescue super PAC and says he's committed to spending at least $50 million in the next six to 12 months to ensure the governor earns the GOP nomination over Trump. However, DeSantis has not even announced his presidential campaign.

“The problem is, for Trump, is he needed to announce and pretty much steamroll everybody. He needed all the donors to capitulate his way. He needed all the party leaders to come his way, and while he's had some success, it's not been unanimous, and he needed it to almost be unanimous because the cracks that are appearing are going to turn into canyons very soon,” he explained. “He's going to be constantly trying to, like, plug these leaks. I think his legal challenges, whether they have merit or not, I would think are going to turn his operation into more of a sclerotic beast.”

“I still like the guy. I just think he should move from a party leader to a party elder. That's kind of the nuanced dynamic here that I want to make sure it's not lost in the media, and also voters are reminded that it's OK to vote for somebody else. It doesn't mean you don't like Trump,” Thomas continued. “I think at the end of the day, particularly primary voters want to get excited about their nominee, but it really is a sport about winning. If you don't win, you can't enact your legislative agenda. It's not just about rallies and having a good time. It's about winning, and Trump has kind of called into question at best his ability to do that anymore.”

According to The Hill, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pointed fingers at Trump for the GOP's disappointing midterm results, specifically noting the Party's lack of “quality candidates” was a contributing problem.

“I never said there was a red wave, I said we had a bunch of close races,” McConnell told reporters, citing the caution flags he raised in August when some Republicans were predicting big GOP gains in Congress.

“We ended up having a candidate quality [issue,]” McConnell said. “Look at Arizona, look at New Hampshire, there was a challenging situation in Georgia as well.”

“Our ability to control primary outcomes was quite limited in '22 because the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries so my view do the best with the cards you're dealt,” he said.

“I do think we had the opportunity to relearn one more time you have to have quality candidates to win competitive senate races,” McConnell concluded while noting specific races in 2010 and 2012.

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