DeSantis looks to Utah for boost after posting straw poll win
Mabinty Quarshie
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is betting on Utah as a state he can win after speaking at its Republican convention and winning a presidential straw poll there over the weekend.
DeSantis bested former President Donald Trump to take first place during the first round of voting, winning 54% of the 2,300 Utah Republicans surveyed. Trump received 29% of the votes, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley finished behind Trump and DeSantis with 5% of the vote. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has not entered the race, received 3% of the vote.
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After 13 rounds of ranked choice voting, DeSantis won 67.2% of the vote, while Trump came in second at 32.8%.
In what might be somewhat good news for the Republican Party, 52% of DeSantis voters ranked Trump in their top three presidential front-runner list — a suggestion the party is more unified than suspected. Nearly 80% of Trump voters ranked DeSantis in their top three presidential front-runner group.
DeSantis has lost some ground in polls to Trump in recent weeks, and a Morning Consult poll released Tuesday showed DeSantis slipping further behind the former president among GOP primary voters in general. Trump bested DeSantis 58% to 21%, a lead of 37 percentage points, his biggest over DeSantis since Morning Consult began tracking in December.
DeSantis is on an international trade mission trip after a week in which Trump won endorsements from several Florida representatives.
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While in Utah on Saturday, DeSantis declared Florida is “the Utah of the Southeast” and criticized “woke” ideology.
“We’ve made the state of Florida the place where woke goes to die,” DeSantis told attendees.