Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R) influence on a potential 2024 presidential run may be losing its strength if recent polling released Friday is any indicator.
The poll results show DeSantis trailing behind former President Donald Trump, with Trump at 46% against DeSantis’s 23%. The latest tally is a 5% drop in support for DeSantis compared to last month, when the Florida governor trailed Trump by 20% in the same poll, according to Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll data released exclusively to The Hill.
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Other details from the polls spell more concern for DeSantis, as his standing in a hypothetical GOP primary without Trump has also decreased. Respondents in the poll stated that 39% of GOP voters would back DeSantis for the Republican nomination if Trump was not running, though the percentage is still 10% lower compared to a month prior.
The poll, conducted from Feb. 15-16, surveyed a total of 1,838 registered voters. The survey does not report a probability confidence interval due to it being a representative online sample.
While DeSantis faltered a bit in the latest polling, other Republicans experienced a boost in their support for a possible 2024 bid. Former Vice President Mike Pence rose to 17% in the latest poll. In contrast, Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador, and South Carolina governor who announced her presidential run earlier this week, saw her support increase to 10%, an increase of 5% compared to last month.
DeSantis, who experienced a major victory in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election and has been seen as a strong contender for the 2024 presidential election, has not yet announced whether he will run. On Tuesday, DeSantis was asked if he would run in the next presidential election after Haley announced her run, to which he responded, “wouldn’t you like to know.”
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President Joe Biden still has not announced if he will seek reelection, though White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that he intends to run in 2024.
“What I can say is repeat what the president has said many times is that he intends to run. And I leave it there,” Jean-Pierre told Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC’s The Sunday Show.
