Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is seeking to win over evangelical voters from Donald Trump, hoping to best the former president with a key voting bloc that could be crucial in winning the Republican nomination in 2024.
During his first campaign tour since announcing his presidential campaign, DeSantis visited with conservative voters across Iowa to discuss his campaign platform while touting his policies as governor in the Sunshine State. DeSantis held his campaign launch event at an evangelical church in the suburbs of Des Moines, touting his six-week abortion ban that just took effect in Florida as part of his efforts to win over strong anti-abortion voters.
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DeSantis has sought to use that abortion messaging to differentiate himself from Trump, hoping to position himself as further to the right than the former president on the key issue. The move comes as Trump has come under fire from some conservative groups for his stance on abortion, particularly for his hesitancy to say he would support a nationwide ban.
The Florida governor especially hit out against Trump for his criticism of DeSantis’s six-week abortion ban, implying that the law was “too harsh.” DeSantis seized on that messaging, using Trump’s comments as evidence he has moved closer to the center.
But DeSantis has struggled with finding his footing on the issue after moving on from the socially conservative Iowa to the more moderate state of New Hampshire, where the Florida governor avoided talking about the subject altogether. The move indicates that the Florida governor is carefully toeing the line with abortion by highlighting it in states that are sure to back him while keeping quiet in places where it could be political dynamite.
The effort to win over evangelical voters comes as Trump is ahead of DeSantis in polling among the bloc, according to a recent survey by Monmouth University. Trump leads DeSantis by roughly 28 points, the poll shows, which is a jump from the 9-point lead he held in March.
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But there is still hope for the Florida governor, as a different poll from Public Religion Research Institute shows evangelical voters view DeSantis more favorably than Trump, which could give him an edge.
There could be a shift in which candidate evangelical voters choose to support in the GOP primary, especially as former Vice President Mike Pence is poised to join the fray. Pence has long been popular among that particular voting bloc because of his conservative policies.
