Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not buying the latest liberal media spin on Iowa polling numbers.
As the Tampa Free Press reported on Monday, the NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll found that 43% of likely GOP caucus-goers in Iowa have made former President Donald Trump their first choice.
That poll gave Trump a 27-point lead over his closest challengers, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, each of whom snared 16% of respondents.
The typical media response has been that it’s still Trump’s race to lose.
As the Des Moines Register reported, “Support for Nikki Haley has swelled in Iowa: The former United Nations ambassador has pulled even with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in what has become a heated battle for second place in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. But former President Donald Trump still dominates the race.”
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Yet the good news for DeSantis is that Trump’s 43% support is the lowest level he’s recorded in an Iowa poll since he registered 41% in an Aug. 24 poll by Public Opinion Strategies, according to the website FiveThirtyEight.com.
But DeSantis pointed beyond the headlines to some of the nitty-gritty of the poll.
The poll, he told conservative podcaster Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday, “did say that I have the highest favorability and the highest percentage of Iowans that are considering voting for me and I clearly have a path to win the caucus.”
“I don’t think anyone else other than me or Trump has that path based on the underlying data.”
According to that poll, 69% of respondents viewed DeSantis favorably, which was up from 66% and was three points higher than Trump.
DeSantis also posted a lower “unfavorable” number than Trump, 26% to 32%, respectively.
Meanwhile, when asked for their first and second choices in the caucuses as well as whom they are “actively considering,” 67% percent of respondents said DeSantis, which tied him for the top spot with Trump.
DeSantis crushed Haley in this regard, as her total was just 54%.
Overall, 52% said DeSantis is their second choice or someone they are actively considering. The next closest candidate in that regard was Sen. Tim Scott at 42%.
“Donald Trump is spending a million dollars attacking me in Iowa. Haley’s super PAC is spending big money to attack me in Iowa. You don’t do that unless you view me as the threat,” DeSantis told Hewitt.
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“So I think it’s fine, some of the public data that gets put out. How accurate it’s been over the year, I think is definitely open to question.”
“We’ve got 20-some thousand already committed to caucus, and we still have most of the vast majority of voters haven’t even made up their minds, yet,” the governor continued.
“So we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. We’ve built a strong base of support. And then it’s all about bringing it in for a landing as people make their decisions.”
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