Media wonder if DeSantis is too popular to become president
Zachary Faria
Video Embed
Legacy media outlets are scrambling to come up with reasons to declare a potential presidential campaign by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) dead on arrival. This has led to some incredible attempts, which now include concerns that DeSantis might be too popular to become president.
That is the “problem” he is facing, according to Politico. DeSantis is just so popular in Florida, and that will harm his presidential run. This is because DeSantis and Florida legislators are focused on “base-pleasing issues” on “gender and diversity policy.” The article also cites DeSantis pursuing a ban on abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, summoning the departing Nevada GOP leader to attack DeSantis as being too extreme.
TRUMP AND DESANTIS TAKE ON DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT STRATEGIES AS 2024 CYCLE LOOMS
DeSantis is “testing the limits of how hard right he can go without undermining his rationale for running in the first place,” according to the outlet. Combine that with his poll results cooling, and you have yet another projection that it is only a matter of time before DeSantis flames out. There are a few problems with this, though.
First of all, DeSantis’s poll numbers slipping is not a cause of concern, given that he has not even declared that he is running for president yet. The fact that he has been pulling the numbers he has been is a testament to his strength. It is clear both Democrats and Republican candidates are treating him as the front-runner, even though he trails in most polls.
Second, DeSantis’s actions on “gender and diversity policy” are not, and never have been, as controversial as the media have desperately tried to paint them. The “don’t say gay” law that only prevents teachers from teaching children in the third grade and below about sexual orientation and gender identity was wildly popular even among Democrats, both in Florida and nationally. Six-week abortion bans (or “heartbeat bills”) have regularly polled well, and they poll far better than the Democratic Party’s goal of eliminating all abortion restrictions.
DeSantis has not become this popular just by throwing red meat to a red-state base. Florida is not Alabama. It was a swing state for years, a state that Democrats always contested heavily before 2022. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) won three times in the state as a Republican, but never by more than 1.2 percentage points. DeSantis won his first statewide election by just 0.4 of a point in 2018. But he proceeded to govern so effectively that Democrats didn’t even bother with the state in 2022. That’s why DeSantis won reelection by over 19 points.
And that’s supposed to be a bad thing for him?
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The media know that once DeSantis launches his campaign, he will pose a threat both to President Joe Biden and to former President Donald Trump, their two favorite candidates. Therefore, they must find any excuse to tear him down, including claiming he is not “charismatic” enough to run against the infamously charismatic Biden or that he once ate pudding with three fingers.
That is how they come to the conclusion that DeSantis is just too popular to become president. You can only wonder what they will come up with when DeSantis actually declares his candidacy.