It has been a little more than two months since Gov. Ron DeSantis ended months of speculation and officially entered the race for president, which came after his runaway re-election to a second term, but it appears there is little momentum right now. The latest polling data at Morning Consult shows DeSantis’ numbers actually slipping from the low 20s earlier in the campaign to 15% now.
Trump, meanwhile, is easily leading the pack of GOP names with 58% and DeSantis at 15%, with businessman and political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy in third with 9%.
At this stage of the game, with the closely-watched Iowa caucus coming in five months, the DeSantis campaign says it is looking past the national horse race and focusing on the feedback it’s getting from state-to-state campaigning.
For example, a Marquette University Law School poll in late June showed GOP primary voters favored DeSantis by 16 points over Trump if the two were the only choices.
"If you're just paying attention to these national polls, you're missing what's really happening on the ground in places like Iowa and New Hampshire," Carly Atchison, a campaign spokesperson, told American Family Radio this week.
"Gov. DeSantis was out in Iowa for a bus tour, doing meet and greets, going to diners, talking to Iowa caucus goers," she said. "There's a lot of momentum on the ground in Iowa."
Iowa kicks off its caucus voting Jan. 15 next year. The next state is New Hampshire on Feb. 13.
“From the perspective of someone like myself, who is a fairly open supporter of Gov. DeSantis’ presidential campaign, obviously we would have liked to have seen a little more movement in the national horse race polling in the over two months or so since his launch in late May," Josh Hammer, a Newsweek columnist and podcaster, told AFR host Jenna Ellis. "I think there's no harm in just saying that quite openly."
The tangible result of the support question came a week and a half ago when the DeSantis campaign slashed more than a third of its staff, including two senior advisers.
For many DeSantis supporters, slashing your campaign and trailing by 40 points can be quite depressing if they view DeSantis as an alternative to Trump in the run for the nomination. That’s if people look at the numbers, but Hammer predicts most aren't paying attention – yet.
“It’s really early," he told Ellis. "Political nerds like you and me are closely following this stuff in the summer before an election year, but most Americans are not."
Back in Iowa, veteran conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats is looking at the polls and the calendar, too, but insists he knows his own state well.
“While all these polls show Donald Trump is the clear frontrunner, I see no evidence on the ground to support," Vander Plaats tweeted this week. "My early hunch is [Trump] gets beat in Iowa Caucus. All narrative regarding him is the same: 1, He did good. 2, He can’t win. 3, Time to move on. 4, Need to win."
Vander Plaats, who leads The Family Leader, has not publicly endorsed DeSantis but said last month voters are ready to "turn the page" from Donald Trump.
In the AFR interview, Atchison said 39 state legislators in Iowa have endorsed DeSantis, which she attributes to her boss's “state strategy" to court local supporters.
“We’ve got great grassroots support from local pastors, local sheriffs (in Iowa), and we're seeing the same thing in New Hampshire," she told Ellis.
Atchison began the radio interview by touting DeSantis' 10-point economic plan, which he unveiled Monday in New Hampshire. The economic policy called the "Declaration of Economic Independence" promises to address taxes and regulation but also vows to take on China and its "abusive relationship" with the U.S.
"That’s what a lot of Americans are feeling like they want to hear," Atchison said. "'What is the plan moving forward?' How are you going to make my life better?' That's what Gov. DeSantis is delivering on the ground directly to those voters."
Hammer's advice: Move beyond 'woke'
The DeSantis campaign may not be on life support as some would suggest but Hammer believes it can use more symmetry.
The economic plan will help voters get to know DeSantis and his plans but Hammer said the candidate - who has hammered the woke agenda of President Joe Biden - needs to do a better job of bringing together the economic, foreign policy, and culture aspects of his campaign.
“It’s time to start really trying to kind of tie all of the pieces together under that one unifying umbrella, and perhaps most importantly, to try to kind of convey that message in an inspirational manner,” Hammer said. “I think he’s starting to do it right. He had that speech in New Hampshire (to introduce) a kind of across-the-board economic plan.”
