Here’s the most compelling question during these early months of the 2024 presidential campaign: Why isn’t Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis doing better in the polls?
DeSantis, after all, has an admirable record of achievement in Florida. With the help of a compliant Legislature, he got a number of conservative bills passed. He got national attention by convincing lawmakers to punish the Walt Disney Co. when it publicly opposed Republican legislation to prohibit discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in the early grades of elementary school.
But really, his signature accomplishment occurred after Hurricane Ian hit the state in 2022. DeSantis was a model crisis manager. His agencies deployed significant assistance to the hardest-hit areas quickly and proved that, properly directed, government can be helpful. Voters noticed, and a couple of months later they rewarded DeSantis with a second term as governor.
With all that going for him, why is DeSantis still a distant second behind former President Donald Trump in virtually every presidential poll available? Trump has been out of office for more than two years, a period during which DeSantis has regularly made news for what he supports and what he opposes.
Here are a few thoughts:
• There’s only one Trump. DeSantis has tried to make the case that he’s the newest version of Trump, who will pick up the torch once carried by the former president. Key to this point is that DeSantis is the one without all the political baggage that Trump amassed during his four years in office, and therefore would have a better chance of winning the general election.
So far, Republicans being polled aren’t buying it. Many of them are sticking with the original version. As the summer grinds on, Trump has a comfortable lead in the polls while DeSantis lays off staff and promises changes to his campaign.
• Some of DeSantis’ Florida strategies may be coming back to haunt him. Catherine Rampell, a columnist on The Washington Post website, noted that the governor was among the Republicans blasting Bud Light beer after it made a marketing agreement with a transgender social influencer. It was a colossally bad move by Bud Light that has hurt the stock price of its owner, Anheuser-Busch InBev.
So now, Rampell noted, DeSantis says the state should consider suing the company for losses because Florida’s pension fund is a stockholder. It doesn’t take much for people to see that he can’t have it both ways.
The same goes for the governor’s Disney strategy. Why take aim at Florida’s largest employer? Disney is entitled to its corporate opinion, but DeSantis was unable or unwilling to let it go.
Frankly, he was a sore winner.
• But this one may be the key: DeSantis may be a good governor, but he remains an awkward candidate. Politicking does not come naturally to him, the way it did for presidents like FDR, JFK, Reagan, Bill Clinton — and, most importantly, Trump.
The former president is clearly a lightning rod, but there’s no doubt that he knows how to get attention and connect with voters. That may be the biggest challenge for DeSantis.
It says something about the voters that we tend to be charmed by smooth politicians rather than listen to what they’re saying. Many times we have gotten it right — just reread the list above. But there are other 2024 natural politicians besides Trump; Chris Christie, Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswanthy come immediately to mind. DeSantis just isn’t there yet.
Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
