Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the Republican presidential primary on Sunday, no doubt a disappointment to his supporters, though it looked to be the time to do so. Once seen as former and potentially future President Donald Trump's fiercest competition, DeSantis came in a distant second in the Iowa Republican Caucus last Monday, and was polling a distant third in New Hamshire, where voting takes place today. Even before he officially launched his campaign, though, DeSantis was getting attacked by the media nonstop. Perhaps the clearest example was with POLITICO.
Back in April we put together multiple VIP pieces on the bias from POLITICO against the governor as he was trying to raise his profile ahead of his campaign. DeSantis didn't announce until May.
Now that DeSantis is out and Trump is even more likely to be the nominee, the outlet put this headline out really scrutinizing his chances, "Donald Trump has a big problem ahead." In sharing the article to X, the POLITICO post noted that "Trump is bleeding moderate support. It could cost him the 2024 election." There's close to 600 replies and over 400 quoted replies, which includes from those pointing to the curious timing.
The piece quotes a lot of angry NeverTrump voters who are going wih former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and/or even President Joe Biden over Trump, although the support for Biden from Haley primary voters isn't surprising if you looked into particular findings from the Des Moines Register poll released just ahead of the Iowa Caucus.
As the piece noted early on:
Donald Trump has a problem no matter what happens in New Hampshire on Tuesday night: There’s a whole swath of the Republican electorate and a good chunk of independents who appear firmly committed to not voting for him in November if he becomes the nominee.
It’s an issue that became starkly apparent in polling ahead of the Iowa caucuses, when an NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll of voters in that state found that fully 43 percent of Nikki Haley supporters said they would back President Joe Biden over Trump. And it’s a dynamic that has been on vivid display as the campaign shifted this week to New Hampshire.
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But 2024 is different. Trump is not making his pitch to voters as a first time candidate. He is a known quantity who is being judged by the electorate not for the conduct of his current campaign so much as his time in office. And that, political veterans warn, makes it much harder for him to win back the people he’s alienated, including those once willing to vote Republican.
The piece points to a New York Times/Siena College poll to show that Biden has more support among Democrats than Trump does among Republicans, although that's just one poll. Other polls, including last week's poll from The Economist/YouGov, show Trump with the edge in support from members of his own party, as well as with Independents, and who voters think is more likely to win.
Trump and Biden are pretty evenly split, with Biden enjoying 44 percent support among registered voters to Trump's 43 percent support. Trump enjoys 89 percent support among those who voted for him in 2020, while that support for Biden is at 85 percent among those who voted for him in 2020. Trump also enjoys 88 percent support among Republicans while it's at 87 percent support for Biden among Democrats. Independents also favor Trump to Biden, 40-37 percent.
Regardless of who respondents prefer, a plurality of registered voters say they think Trump will win over Biden, with 45 percent saying so compared to the 37 percent who think Biden will win.
Currently, RealClearPolling has Trump leading overall by +2.9 against Biden, with 47.2 percent to Biden's 44.3 percent support.
Even still, the piece is forced to acknowledge that "Biden himself is grappling with a Democratic Party where a portion of voters have soured on him and are either leaning towards or threatening to vote for a third party candidate or stay home in November." That's arguably been a much bigger issue, as we've covered at length.
Now that DeSantis is out of the race, that doesn't mean that the outlet has given up on going after the governor, though.
Katie has covered how Florida Democrats have reacted to the successful governor returning home after he dropped out of the race, noting that "Florida Democrats Are Panicking Over DeSantis' Return" as she cited posts from the state Democratic Party and coverage from The New York Times.
POLITICO looked to get in on that narrative too, though. For they also on Tuesday put out an article noting that "Florida insiders fear vengeful DeSantis will 'burn it all down.'" Many users who chimed in as part of the over 200 replies and over 100 quote replies expressed hope that the governor actually would.
The headline comes from a quote attributed to Nikki Fried, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party. She had also served as the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and had also run against DeSantis for governor in 2022, though she ultimately lost the Democratic nomination to Charlie Crist. A former Republican turned Independent turned Democrat, Crist lost to DeSantis in November 2022 by close to 20 points.
Although he is term-limited and cannot run again for governor, his term doesn't end until January 2027, giving him with plenty of time to continue running Florida and perhaps run again for president in 2028.
"Politico" has been trending over X on Tuesday, in part due to such articles.
Are you trying to get me unnecessarily excited or what?
— Mr. Victor O Godwin (@Alare_Bems) January 23, 2024
I already love Desantis, you can't make me love him more. 😂#BurnItAllDown
So awesome. They are scared. https://t.co/YBu8VwhWvn
— Daniel Horowitz (@RMConservative) January 23, 2024
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