By Dave Workman
Editor-in –Chief
Though the 2024 presidential campaign is more than a year away, support is already growing for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to seek the Republican nomination, while former President Donald Trump’s star appears to be fading, according to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll.
“Nearly two-thirds of Republican voters and independents who identified as either conservative or very conservative (65%) said they want DeSantis to run for president, and 56% of those same voters said they prefer him to former President Donald Trump,” said a Suffolk University news release.
The university also noted how in “a hypothetical matchup,” DeSantis currently leads Joe Biden 47-43 percent “among all voters.” Seven percent were undecided and two percent indicated they would vote for someone else.
One of Trump’s characteristics that made him popular with U.S. gun owners was his habit of never failing to mention the Second Amendment in his stump speeches at rallies across the country. It set him apart from other presidents before, and certainly after, he served.
But now comes DeSantis, who appears to be no wallflower when it comes to defending the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.
Back in June, when anti-gun Florida Democrats were calling for “reform” measures, the Tallahassee Democrat reported how DeSantis “rebuked” them by observing, “With all due respect to these leftists, they just want to come after your Second Amendment rights.”
The governor further explained his perspective on preventing school shootings by noting, “You focus on the criminal. You focus on the lunatic. You don’t knee cap the rights of law abiding citizens.”
According to FloridaPolitics.com, DeSantis went a step further with his remarks, adding, “Let’s just be honest, that’s what they want to do. They don’t want you — they view you, as a law-abiding citizen, as the target of what they’re trying to do. How can they, on the one hand, say they’re serious about this when they support these people who let all the criminals out of prison and they don’t prosecute people?”
In its report, USA Today said Trump’s bid for a third term “has cratered” based on the poll results.
“By 2-1,” the USA Today story said, “GOP and GOP-leaning voters now say they want Trump’s policies but a different standard-bearer to carry them. While 31% want the former president to run, 61% prefer some other Republican nominee who would continue the policies Trump has pursued.”
The story quoted David Paleologos, director of Suffolk University’s Political Research Center, who explained matter-of-factly, “Republicans and conservative independents increasingly want Trumpism without Trump.”
The Suffolk news release also had another interesting revelation.
“Biden easily defeats Trump 47%-40% among all voters,” the university said, “with 5% indicating someone else, 4% saying they would not vote, 4% undecided, and 1% refusing a response. Trump’s approval rating now stands at just 30%, compared to 46% for Biden.”
All of this could change over the next year. In reality, the 2024 campaign is probably already under way, and over the next 12-13 months, Democrats and Republicans will emerge as candidates. The next 12 months will determine whether Biden will actually gear up for a second run, and if he decides ultimately to leave after his current term, it will open the field to people such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Vice President Kamala Harris, who never got through the first Democratic primary three years ago.
DeSantis might be emerging as the new hope for Republicans now, but a year puts the campaign a very long way off, and much can happen between now and 2024.
