Florida Governor and Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, Ron DeSantis, campaigning in Ankeny, Iowa, June 15, 2023. SCOTT OLSON / AFP
A simple excerpt from an interview on Fox News. One moment among others, which speaks of the paradoxical reality of a campaign, that of Ron DeSantis. The governor of Florida was questioned, on July 6, about this conservative channel which had hitherto surrounded him with his favors. ” I like you “, began the presenter in the preamble. Then he asked the Republican primary candidate about his difficulty connecting with voters. Ron DeSantis’ answer? Money proof.
In six weeks, his campaign team raised twenty million dollars. The public action committee (super PAC) that supports it, called Never Back Down, is at 130 million dollars (115 million euros). “No one has matched that in the history of modern presidential politics,” rejoiced the candidate, before explaining that he was in the process of building his network of activists in all the key states. If doubt was a country, Ron DeSantis couldn’t place it on the map.
In his entourage, however, questions arise. “It’s an uphill battle” dropped Steve Cortes, one of its spokespersons. This campaign was to be a demonstration of professionalism and means. A political blitz aimed at overthrowing Donald Trump’s dominance in the Republican Party. Ron DeSantis’ appearance on the scene at the end of May – in the not very solemn form of a confused conversation with Elon Musk on Twitter – was presented by his supporters as the first step in a conquest. A few weeks have passed, and the conclusion is clear: the governor of Florida does not benefit from any dynamic. According to the FiveThirtyEight site, which offers an aggregation of national polls, Donald Trump’s lead has increased. The former president – who on July 8 called his rival a “son of a bitch (…) heavily overpriced » – has more than double the voting intentions in the Republican primaries, exceeding the 50% mark. DeSantis has fallen below 20%, to the point that the Murdoch group – which owns Fox News, the tabloid New York Post and the Wall Street Journal – seems to be distancing himself from the candidate, according to the American press.
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The extraordinary political context calls for caution. The primaries will begin in Iowa on January 15, 2024. Surrounded by legal threats, Donald Trump may dominate the polls, but he raises deep doubts about his ability to win the presidential election, beyond the circle of his faithful. Already twice indicted, pending a likely third indictment in early August in Georgia, then a possible fourth in the federal investigation into the January 6 assault on the Capitol, the former president only talks about himself, the persecution of which he considers himself a victim. But the other candidates do not benefit from it. They sink into quicksand. This phenomenon is even more striking in Ron DeSantis, because of the interest he aroused after the midterm elections, in November 2022, and his triumphant re-election in Florida. He was then neck and neck with Donald Trump in the polls, especially in key states like New Hampshire.
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2023-07-17 00:00:10
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