If you’re a Republican who doesn’t want to vote for Trump in the 2024 primary, poll after poll shows that Ron DeSantis has the best chance of any of Trump’s primary opponents. However, in recent months, DeSantis’ deficit of support has only grown larger. Whether it is fueled by GOP voters coalescing behind Trump due to the partisan indictments or something else, that is the reality. DeSantis may be in second place, but it’s a distant second.
Can he still overcome that gap? I believe so. Polling has shown that a significant portion of Trump’s support comes from swayable GOP primary voters. The question for DeSantis is: How does he convince those swayable voters that it’s time for Trump to pass the torch? So far, he hasn’t been able to do it.
During a town hall event in New Hampshire, DeSantis was asked how he’d respond to Donald Trump’s insults on stage during a debate.
“So here’s the thing, these insults are so phony,” he said. “These insults are juvenile. That is not the way a great nation should be conducting itself. That is not the way the President of the United States should be conducting himself.”
DeSantis went on to say we need to have a debate about issues and that he’s not going to resort to childish insults.
“I wouldn’t teach my kids to treat people like that,” he pointed out. “We have a six, five, and a three-year-old — we teach our kids to treat people the way you would want to be treated yourself.”
That’s when DeSantis indicated what is likely to be a very effective message going forward.
Related: Yes, Ron DeSantis Can Beat Donald Trump
“One of the things I think about the former president — and I appreciate he did do a lot of great things, and I was a big supporter — but he’s running in 2024 on the things that he promised to do in 2016 and he didn’t do. He said he was going to drain the swamp. He did not drain the swamp, not even close. We ended his presidency with Anthony Fauci running the country. You couldn’t even fire Fauci and so now you’re gonna go drain the swamp? Give me a break. He said Mexico was gonna pay for the border wall. Do you see the border secured? I see people coming in infinitum. He said that he was gonna lock Hillary up — just like he’s now saying he’s going to do a special counsel for Biden, two weeks after the election and, ‘ahhh, forget about it, don’t worry about it.’”
DeSantis continued, “And then he actually said he was going to eliminate the national debt. He added 8 trillion dollars to the debt. We’ve paid down our debt in Florida. He did more in four years than any President has ever done to expand it. That’s the record we should talk about.”
He explained that Republicans can’t be distracted by petty insults because if that happens, they lose.
“There are millions of voters out there who do not like what Biden is doing to this country,” he continued. “They do not like the direction the country is going in, but they aren’t going to sign up for a candidate who is behaving like that. So let’s be better. Let’s look higher, and let’s set a good standard for our children to follow.”
WATCH: Governor Ron DeSantis asked in a New Hampshire Town Hall how he will respond when former President Trump launches personal attacks and insults. DeSantis directly goes after Trump on policy while reminding voters that Trump's behavior is one of the reason why the GOP loses pic.twitter.com/JqVfkeY0xA
— Hempstead Tires (@HempsteadTirez) August 5, 2023
It’s quite clear that DeSantis is largely setting himself apart from Trump on style and effectiveness — not policy. The two men are probably quite close on policy; it’s a question of who can more effectively carry those policies out. He’s essentially articulating the very reason why many Trump supporters are backing him over the former president. Will this make a difference, or is it too late?
