It’s Iowa or bust for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
With five and a half weeks to go before the Jan. 15 caucuses and DeSantis trailing former President Donald Trump by an average of nearly 30 percentage points in the Hawkeye State, the 45-year-old will be determined to pull away. shocked.
“I think what you’re going to see in Iowa is the hard work we’ve put in paid off,” campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo told The Post after Wednesday night’s fourth Republican primary debate in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
“The reality is, we got confirmation from 42 state legislators, we have now visited all 99 districts,” he said. “Those things are things that will pay off, they will get votes.”
Romeo added that DeSantis has no further plans to “tighten it up” after a year in which the governor changed campaign managers and reduced staff numbers and stressed that the campaign has not found a polling gap between DeSantis and his biggest rival “on .”
Ron DeSantis and wife Casey DeSantis greeted the debate moderator after the fourth Republican presidential primary debate at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. AFP via Getty Images
As of Friday afternoon, the RealClearPolitics average showed Trump with 47.3% support in Iowa compared to DeSantis’ 18.7%. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was close behind at 15.7%, while biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie earned 5% and 3.7%, respectively.
With polls showing DeSantis trailing in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, Iowa is looming large for the Florida governor’s White House chances.
“Maybe it’s not showing up in the polls so far, but as we get closer and closer, that’s what’s going to matter, that’s what’s going to make a difference,” Romeo said. “What’s important is the support we get from grassroots activists and supporters and legislators and Kim Reynolds and Bob Vander Plaats, because that’s the formula you need to win the Iowa caucuses, and that’s what we’re going to stick with. do.”
DeSantis returned to Iowa on Thursday for back-to-back weekends in his latest effort to win over voters. AP Ron DeSantis speaks to the media after a meet and greet, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. AP
Vander Plaats, CEO of the evangelical organization Chief FAMiLY, told The Post that the poll numbers are “one piece of data” to consider, but he believes Iowans will “stop late” for governor.
Trump is “a former president and he has a built-in base of support. So you have to be aware of that,” said Vander Plaats, whose influence has led some to call him the “Maker of the Iowa Caucus.”
However, Vander Plaats added, he believes DeSantis’ ground game and endorsements “will bring people to the caucus” and that he should continue to “capitalize on the organization” as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) against Trump in 2016.
The DeSantis campaign has long argued that defeating Trump in Iowa would lock up a two-person race for the Republican nomination. Other experts have suggested that even a close defeat might be enough for the governor to rally the party’s non-Trump wing behind him heading into New Hampshire and South Carolina.
DeSantis got a warm welcome in Iowa following Wednesday’s debate, held a meet and greet on Thursday and participated in a “Mamas for DeSantis” event with Reynolds in Des Moines on Friday.
On Saturday, the governor will speak with Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) in Sioux Center.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
