Commander at Chiefs?
Zachary Faria
The Jacksonville Jaguars may have lost their playoff matchup to the Kansas City Chiefs, but at least one Floridian left Arrowhead Stadium on a positive note.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was in attendance for the game, and videos showed him shaking hands and speaking with fans in the stands. DeSantis, a governor who has not even announced a run for president or injected himself into national issues, should not have much of a national profile, yet his appeal is already resonating with random fans in Missouri.
This tracks in polls as well. Despite former President Donald Trump dominating headlines for five years and already announcing his presidential campaign, he and DeSantis are trading off leads in various polls. Most recently, DeSantis dominated a statewide poll out of South Carolina, the third state on the GOP calendar and the one that pushed Trump ahead of the GOP field in 2016. DeSantis led Trump by 19 points.
DeSantis is also regularly leading President Joe Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup, and he is consistently outperforming Trump when matched up against Biden. DeSantis is not Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), desperately seeking the approval of national media outlets. He is not a former or current president. And yet people know him, and people prefer him over all other options.
Sometimes, politics is as simple as it seems. The popular politician who likely hasn’t even hit his national ceiling is probably the best pick to lead the party in an election cycle. The polls show it, DeSantis’s dominance in Florida in 2022 supports it, and it would be nice to nominate a president who doesn’t qualify for a senior discount.
Of course, shaking hands with fans at a football game isn’t a scientific measure, but we could always continue to test it. Someone should send former Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) to a game in Arrowhead. If anyone recognizes him, then he can go ahead and run for president, too.