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In the wake of last week's midterms, some prominent Republicans have abandoned Donald Trump and embraced another high-profile GOP figure they think will make a better choice for the 2024 presidential nomination.
In the past week, top conservative groups and media outlets have hailed Ron DeSantis as the top Republican, praising the governor for his decisive victory in Florida—the clearest GOP win amid lackluster showings elsewhere in the country.
But even as his former supporters flock to DeSantis, Trump has remained steadfast in his aspiration for a second term. A scheduled event at his Florida estate this week has raised speculation that he will make an official announcement Tuesday night, a week after elections that turned the GOP on its head.
Some have predicted that Trump's White House bid is coming earlier than usual so he can fend off any serious challengers for the Republican nomination, and the former president's recent threats about DeSantis signal that could be the case.
After informing the press that he voted for DeSantis as a Florida resident, Trump said that if the governor decides to run for president, "I will tell you things about him that won't be very flattering. I know more about him than anybody other than perhaps his wife, who is really running his campaign."
Then, last Thursday, Trump questioned DeSantis' loyalty to him and said the governor wouldn't have the political career he has without Trump.
Trump and DeSantis have long been on a collision course. Trump has repeatedly hinted he'll run for a second term, while DeSantis, who has not made an official bid for the nomination, has avoided answering questions about a run. He has been noticeably silent on a number of controversies that could help him mount a challenge to Trump.
Trump has insisted that he would outperform DeSantis if the two go head-to-head in 2024, but polls suggest otherwise.
On Monday, a polling memo from the conservative Club for Growth—a group that recently had a falling out with Trump—showed the former president trailing DeSantis by double digits in hypothetical matchups in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states on the GOP's primary calendar. DeSantis did even better in Florida and Georgia, leading Trump by much wider margins in the South.
Texas Republicans also prefer DeSantis over Trump for 2024, according to a poll commissioned by the Republican Party of Texas. Asked whom they would vote for out of six GOP candidates, likely 2024 voters picked DeSantis as their top choice. More than 40 percent of respondents said they'd vote for the governor, compared with the 32 percent who picked Trump.
Over the weekend, a national YouGov poll found DeSantis with a lead over Trump, although by a smaller margin. Among Republican voters, 41 percent said they preferred the governor, while 39 percent preferred Trump.
The latest surveys show a notable reversal from earlier polling, when Trump was the clear front-runner among Republicans. A Morning Consult poll conducted right before the midterms and in the days after—November 2 to 7—showed Trump with a 22-point lead over DeSantis. And in October polls had Trump anywhere from 25 to 50 points over DeSantis.
DeSantis is the only Republican candidate that polls show to be a real threat to President Joe Biden's reelection. Newsweek's analysis of FiveThirtyEight's polling data found that in almost every post-midterm poll on a match between Biden and a Republican, only DeSantis breaks even in support, and one poll even found the governor with a 2-point lead over Biden.
That same survey showed Trump trailing Biden by 3 points in a hypothetical rematch.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more