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Florida Governor and 2024 hopeful Ron DeSantis was pressed during an interview on Fox News on why his presidential campaign is struggling in the polls.
DeSantis, who is floundering in the polls to former President Donald Trump, was asked by Fox News' Will Cain why he is still not "connecting" with Republican voters on a national scale several weeks into his presidential campaign.
Trump leads DeSantis by more than 28 points (52 percent - 23.3 percent), according to FiveThirtyEight's national poll average tracker.
As noted by Cain during the interview, Steve Cortes, the national spokesperson for the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down super PAC, admitted in a live Twitter Space on July 2 that the Florida governor is "way behind" in the polls and is facing an "uphill battle" to defeat Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.
During the Wednesday interview, Cain said that the Republican has done a "wonderful job" as Florida governor but is trying to "suss out" when that job, "if ever, begins to resonate" in the numbers for DeSantis as president.
"There are those that say there's something about you that's not connecting for whatever reason," Cain said. "Not connecting with the voter, whether or its personality, Donald Trump says it's about loyalty, [Miami Mayor] Francis Suarez says it's about your relationships."
In response to why his campaign is not connecting, DeSantis cites his recent fundraising efforts to suggest that he is gaining high levels of support for his White House bid.
"Did you just see the news today about the record fundraising haul we've had? nobody's been able to match that in the history of modern presidential politics," DeSantis said. "So we've got a huge amount of support to be able to take the case to the people.
"We're in the process of building out a great organization, and we're going to be on the ground in all these early states. It is three yards and a cloud of dust type situation."
On Thursday, it was revealed that DeSantis's presidential campaign had raised $20 million since it officially launched in late May, with the Never Back Down super PAC also raising an additional $130 million in political funding.
"At the end of the day, nobody has stood up for hardworking Americans more than I have over these last five years, and delivered the level of results that I have," DeSantis said.
"It's going to be a great story to tell because if we did it in Florida, we absolutely can do it as president," the governor added. "That'll mean the border, the invasion stops. It'll mean the economy's restored, and it's going to mean that woke ideology ends up in the dustbin of history."
When asked how he plans to defeat Trump in the GOP primary, DeSantis suggested that he is better suited to win over Independent voters as well as those who haven't voted Republican in years.
"I've shown I can do that, and I think we can do it nationally," DeSantis said.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more