In the eyes of the mainstream right, he’s supposed to be Donald Trump’s alternative to winning back the White House, but candidate Ron DeSantis’ Republican primary debut so far looks like a compilation of blunders. Back on the setbacks of his first month of campaign.
The Twitter fiasco
It was to be an innovative, dynamic launch. For his entry into the campaign for the Republican primary at the end of May, the governor of Florida had promised a direct on Twitter moderated by Elon Musk, a first.
A way for the forties to embody a breath of fresh air against his main rival, Donald Trump, 77, for the Republican nomination.
But this highly anticipated event turned into a fiasco, plagued by a series of technical problems.
DeSantis tripped over the mat
“Your microphone is not open”, “it’s a shame, it doesn’t usually happen like that”…, heard the hundreds of thousands of users, instead of the program that the governor of Florida was trying to exhibit.
A lack of charisma?
Triumphantly re-elected as head of Florida in November 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis hopes to seduce all of America with his shocking positions on immigration, abortion or gender issues.
But, on the ground, this man with a stocky physique and a rare smile is often criticized for a lack of charisma.
“DeSantis tripped over the carpet,” said Todd Belt, a professor of political science at George Washington University. “He fails to forge links with voters”, who have difficulty in perceiving what distinguishes him from Donald Trump, apart from more extreme ideas, he explains to Agence France-Presse.
Falling polls…
The result is final. The governor, in whom the conservatives had placed their hopes after the disappointment of their party in the legislative elections last year, is now outpaced by the former president by more than 30 points in the polls, according to the aggregator RealClearPolitics.
“The more people get to know him, the more he drops in opinion polls,” Donald Trump quipped on his network, Truth Social, this week.
Surrounded by investigations, the former president threw himself headlong into his third race for the White House, posing as the victim of a “witch hunt” led by Democrats, a thesis to which adhere many of his supporters.
His historic indictment in a New York court? Then that by the federal justice in Miami? The former New York businessman boasts of having raised several million dollars thanks to these sequences, which have been the subject of dizzying media attention.
The fall of Ron DeSantis in the polls also benefits the dozen Republican candidates launched in their pursuit, such as former Vice President Mike Pence. Their chances of winning the nomination, however, seem limited.
… but opportunities to relaunch
Don’t bury Ron DeSantis too quickly, warn his allies, however. The battle for the Republican nomination has only just begun, and there will be many opportunities for the former naval officer to revive himself before the first primaries, scheduled for mid-January.
Starting with the first debate between Republican contenders, scheduled for August 23. An opportunity for Ron DeSantis, who has never really attacked Donald Trump frontally, to finally descend into the arena.