Former President Donald Trump appears to be reeling after multiple legal defeats, blowback for hosting a dinner party with a Holocaust-denying white supremacist, and a string of losses by his endorsed candidates, including last week’s Georgia Senate runoff loss by Herschel Walker.
News didn’t improve for Trump this week, as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis routed him by 23 points in a poll of Republicans surveyed by USA Today and Suffolk.
In the poll of 1,000 registered Republican voters, 56 percent chose DeSantis as their preferred Presidential candidate for 2024, compared to 33 percent who chose Trump. Only 47 percent want Trump to run again, and 45% don’t want Trump to run. Those numbers indicate a significant drop in enthusiasm since the summer. In July, 60% of Republicans wanted Trump to run in 2024.
David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said that the data suggests Republicans and conservative independents increasingly want Trump-styled policy, without Trump. Despite the fact that DeSantis has yet to declare himself as a 2024 candidate, he is speaking to audiences across the country and recently hosted an intimate dinner event for his largest donors.
One of the biggest disadvantages facing Trump during the next year is the mere fact that DeSantis can add to his resume. Major milestones in the near future for DeSantis could include a renegoitated deal with Disney’s Reedy Creek District, tax reform, and property insurance reform, which is being addressed in a special session this week in Tallahassee.
DeSantis does face a notable legal challenge surrounding his decision to participate in the relocation of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, but the state law involving the funding is interpreted by a Republican-dominated Florida Legislature. Meanwhile, several of Trump’s former advisors and staff members are being investigated in a variety of legal cases that will require financial and legal commitments not faced by potential rivals in a 2024 Republican Primary Election.
Perhaps one of the most telling metrics from the entire USA Today poll was the fact that 23 percent of Republicans now view Trump unfavorably. That sentiment was reflected in comments from other Republicans in congress and the Senate after Trump said termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution, would be justified to overturn the 2020 Election results, due to the fact that Twitter decided to suppress the spread of a New York Post expose story about Hunter Biden’s possible business ties with Ukrainian energy companies.
Republican leaders, including Mitch McConnell, condemned Trump’s calls for termination of Constitutional Law.
“Let me just say, anyone seeking the presidency who thinks that the Constitution could somehow be suspended or not followed, it seems to me would have a very hard time being sworn in as President of the United States,” McConnell said. McConnell’s comments came one week after Trump labeled the Senate Minority leader a loser, in response to McConnell’s criticism of a dinner Trump hosted for Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
Since 2004, O’Hern has worked with political campaigns in roles ranging from major projects involving nationwide digital marketing for U.S. Presidential candidates, U.S. Congressmen, state governors, and state representatives. O’Hern’s journalism background includes news reporting and editing for various organizations and news publications in Alabama and Florida since 2002. O’Hern graduated from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala with a degree in journalism and a minor in political science.