Vivek Ramaswamy catches Ron DeSantis to tie for second in new poll as the Florida governor attempts to ‘reset’ his campaign strategy
Vivek Ramaswamy catches Ron DeSantis tied for second in a new poll as Florida governor tries to ‘reset’ his campaign strategy
- A new poll shows Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis tied for second place behind former President Donald Trump
- Kaplan Stategies poll shows Ramaswamy and DeSantis each get 12 percent of potential GOP primary voters nationwide
- While it meant good news for the 37-year-old “anti-woke” businessman, it proved there were problems in DeSantisland
Entrepreneur and political novice Vivek Ramaswamy has overtaken Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, with both 2024 candidates second only to former President Donald Trump in a GOP primary released Thursday.
The former president continues to dominate the field, earning the support of 48 percent of Republicans nationwide in a poll performed by Kaplan Strategies.
After Trump, both Ramaswamy and DeSantis are tied at 12 percent.
“Ramaswamy outperformed six other hopefuls by more than double, which is a big surprise in this poll,” Kaplan Strategies founder Doug Kaplan said in a statement.
While it meant good news for the 37-year-old “anti-woke” businessman, it proved that there were problems in DeSantisland.
A shock poll published Thursday found that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (left), believed to be former President Donald Trump’s biggest primary threat, is linked to political novice Vivek Ramaswamy (right)
THE BATTLE OF THE SECOND: A poll released Thursday shows political novice Vivek Ramaswamy is just as popular with Republican primary voters as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, proving there are problems in DeSantisland
Last weekend, DeSantis fired nearly a dozen staffers during a campaign shake-up. That reports NBC News.
Morale is “downright low,” a source who was present when the aides were abolished told the network.
“The whole campaign is on point,” the source said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Despite the campaign raising $20 million in just six weeks, sources said leaders hired too many staff and thus spent too much money to stay in second place.
About 40 percent of the money had gone to salaries, NBC said.
In addition, a large portion of DeSantis’ donors had reached their maximum under federal law, meaning they could no longer help Florida’s governor this year.
“They should never have brought in so many people. The burn rate was way too high. People warned the campaign manager, but she wouldn’t hear of it,” a Republican source told the network.
A donor added: ‘DeSantis’ stock is not rising. Twenty percent is not what people signed up for.’
The Florida governor waited until the end of May to announce his presidential run, giving Trump a lead of more than six months in the 2024 race.
Once he jumped in, DeSantis didn’t make the expected splash — he got stuck in a distant second behind the former president.
Part of his problem was being branded clumsy on the stump.
Prior to his announcement, The Daily Beast came out with a piece portraying DeSantis as aloof and someone who sometimes acted strangely.
The memorable anecdote from the play was a story of DeSantis eating chocolate pudding from a plastic cup with three fingers while on a private jet flying between Tallahassee and Washington, D.C.
As part of the reboot, That reports NBC ThursdayDeSantis will engage and grin more voters and deliver less staged speeches.
Behind DeSantis and Ramaswamy, every other Republican contender scores in the single digits.
The Kaplan Strategies survey found that Senator Tim Scott and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are tied at 5 percent, former Vice President Mike Pence at 4 percent, former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley is at 3 percent, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson is at 1 percent, and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum has not yet reached 1 percent.