Despite once being considered the strongest challenger to former President Donald Trump in the GOP primaries, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has since taken a hit, as the latest polls show the candidate tanking among Republican voters.
Roughly 65% of GOP voters say they view DeSantis favorably, a 15-point drop from the same survey taken in February, according to recent polling from Monmouth University. The most recent numbers also put the Florida governor squarely behind Trump, who has a 77% favorable rating among Republicans. Both candidates have an 18% unfavorable rating.
CLUB FOR GROWTH PLEDGES TO DEFEND REPUBLICANS WHO WERE CRITICAL OF MCCARTHY IN 2024
“DeSantis has not made any headway,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. “The arguments that he’d be a stronger candidate and a more effective president than Trump have both fallen flat.”
When considering which candidate would be a stronger opponent to President Joe Biden, only 22% of voters said DeSantis would be the better choice, the poll showed. Meanwhile, 47% say DeSantis would actually be a weaker candidate to face Biden.
That’s a significant shift from a similar poll by the Wall Street Journal in April that showed 41% of voters saying DeSantis would have a better chance of defeating Biden in the general election.
When it comes to governing, 49% of Republicans say Trump would be more effective than DeSantis compared to just 19% who said the opposite, according to the Monmouth poll. Another 30% said the two would be equally effective.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The latest numbers come as DeSantis undergoes a campaign reset in an effort to close the gap between him and Trump ahead of the primary elections next year. The Florida governor has already begun downsizing his staff after fundraising reports showed financial struggles heading into the third quarter of the year.
Trump continues to lead by at least 30 points in national polling, with DeSantis the runner-up in almost every survey. An average of roughly 51% of voters say they’d back Trump compared to just 19% for DeSantis, according to data from FiveThirtyEight.