A pollster Thursday said that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida was “not running the smartest campaign” against former President Donald Trump.
DeSantis launched his campaign with a glitch-filled announcement and question-and-answer session on Twitter Spaces May 24 that saw over 700,000 people try to listen to the event. Since the event, he has struggled to close a gap with Trump in the polls.
“The thing that DeSantis is suffering from right now, is not an issue of policy, it really is about likability,” Lee Carter told Fox News host Martha MacCallum. “One of the things that he suffered from, in the last three months, he’s lost 20 points in likability. What happened is the more people get to know him, the less they like him.” (RELATED: MSNBC Host Says DeSantis’ Feud With Disney ‘Just Gets Trump Re-Nominated’)
DeSantis currently trails the former president by 30.4% in the RealClearPolitics average of polls, drawing 21.6% of voters to 52% for Trump.
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“Part of it is I think he’s running on the wrong issues. He’s started out with the Florida blueprint and he really leaned deep into the woke issues and the culture wars,” Carter said. “While they’re important, Republicans, 90% of them say they want to hear about your plans for the economy and for America, not on the woke issues.”
DeSantis signed legislation May 2 that prohibited state agencies and local governments from considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when issuing bonds, barred banks from considering “social credit” when making loan decisions and prohibited discrimination on the basis of political, social or religious ideology.
Carter noted that DeSantis also failed to deliver in one other aspect when compared to the former president.
“It seems like he’s promised Trump without the chaos, he seems to be followed by a lot of chaos at the moment and I’m not sure he’s not running the smartest campaign he can,” Carter said.
DeSantis and Disney have clashed since the Florida governor signed parental rights legislation in March 2022 over the company’s opposition. DeSantis also approved legislation that ended Disney’s control over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which Disney reportedly attempted to undermine with last-second agreements, leading to the company suing DeSantis in April.
Former President Trump, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey criticized DeSantis over the Disney feud.
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