Ron DeSantis says he is more electable than Trump, Haley in 2024

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told Iowans Friday that he remains the most electable Republican presidential candidate, even as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has risen in polls and former President Donald Trump continues to dominate the field.

Speaking at Destination Grille in Grimes, DeSantis answered questions from the crowd about his ability to overcome fellow Republican presidential hopefuls. In the Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll results published Monday, DeSantis tied for second place with Haley with support from 16% of likely GOP caucusgoers. The latest results show some loss of momentum for DeSantis, who was at 19% in the August Iowa Poll, while Haley rose from 6% to 16% in the same period.

In national and early state polls, DeSantis has consistently ranked as the top alternative to Trump. But Haley’s campaign said the most recent Iowa Poll results, as well as other polls in New Hampshire and South Carolina, show that her campaign is gaining momentum to move ahead of DeSantis. DeSantis supporters launched a series of campaign ads in October attacking Haley on welcoming Chinese companies to South Carolina as governor, as well as comments on accepting refugees.

Haley’s campaign retorted with an ad saying DeSantis is “is losing, he’s lying, so now he’s throwing mud at Nikki Haley.”

In Iowa on Friday, DeSantis repeated his criticisms of Haley’s dealings with Chinese companies as governor, and also said that her past election results show she would not be as strong of a general election candidate as him. Haley was first elected governor in 2010, winning against Democrat Vincent Sheheen 51% to 47%. She was won reelection by 14 percentage points in 2014 in a rematch against Sheheen.

DeSantis won in 2018 by a thin margin — defeating Democrat Andrew Gillum by 0.4 percentage points — and won again in 2022 by more than more than 19 points. DeSantis said his election results show that he is a stronger candidate than Haley.

“I think if you look at her election performances, she was in a very deep red state of South Carolina — running in very big Republican wave years — and she had a margin of victory less than I did in Florida,” DeSantis said. “… So I’ve shown an ability to win urban voters, I’ve shown an ability to win suburbs, I’ve shown an ability to, of course, win rural areas. And that’s with a bold agenda. I mean, I’m not trying to be anything that I’m not, I tell you what I believe.”

But in the Iowa Poll and national polls, both DeSantis and Haley trail behind the frontrunner, Trump, by double-digit margins. Trump was the first pick of 43% of likely Republican caucusgoers in the most recent Iowa Poll, and his lead ahead of DeSantis grew by 4 percentage points from August to October.

Staff of Never Back Down, the political action committee supporting DeSantis, pointed to attack ads from Trump supporters as evidence that DeSantis remains a threat to the former president. The Make America Great Again super PAC supporting Trump released an attack ad targeting DeSantis, criticizing him for supporting statehood for Puerto Rico.

Another event attendee asked DeSantis how he plans to close the gap with the former president to become the 2024 Republican nominee. DeSantis said the “liberal media” want Trump to be the nominee, but that Republicans are not as pro-Trump as some people believe.

“He has 100% name ID, he’s the one everybody knows,” DeSantis said. “So he’s got some people that are hot to trot for him, but he’s got a lot of people that, he’s just kind of who they know. So it’s up to me to go out and show that we have a vision that will be better, that I’ll be a better candidate, a better president and be able to deliver — honestly, deliver a lot of the promises he was not able to deliver.”

DeSantis said Iowans may be “pleasantly surprised” on caucus night Jan. 15, 2024. Trina Brousseau of Colfax said she agrees with DeSantis’ assessment.

“Trump’s reliant on his past performance,” Brousseau said. “But (DeSantis) is working hard and this Never Back Down is all very organized — I think it’s going to be a surprise.”

The Florida governor is getting near completing the “full Grassley” on the Iowa campaign trail, just 12 events away from holding caucus events in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.

DeSantis asked Iowans for their support in the caucus to help bring the conservative wins he saw in Florida to Washington, D.C.

“I have a record in Florida not only winning big elections, but everything I promised I would do, I did and I delivered on, 100%,” DeSantis said.