The conventional wisdom since the search happened is that DeSantis is now cooked in a Republican primary. Conservative voters’ sacred duty to spite the libs at all costs requires them to nominat.
The conventional wisdom since the search happened is that DeSantis is now cooked in a Republican primary. Conservative voters’ sacred duty to spite the libs at all costs requires them to nominate a guy who’s the subject of multiple criminal investigations and was impeached twice as president. Sorry, Ron. Focus on 2028, maybe. The “DeSantasy” of 2024 is over.
Is it?
Let me show you two polls while asking you to bear in mind that DeSantis’s entire sales pitch in a primary against Trump will be that he offers all of the culture-war fun that Trump does with none of the excess baggage. Trump — but electable, in other words. Here’s what Morning Consult found when it asked Americans whether they approve or disapprove of the search at Mar-a-Lago:
Overall, registered voters approve 52/37. Independents approve 51/29. There’s very little gender gap, and in every age group tested more people approve of the operation than disapprove.
Republicans are a big outlier, obviously, splitting 16/76, a big obstacle for DeSantis in a primary. But is it an insurmountable one? The fact that a majority of voters overall side with the DOJ against Trump makes this another reason in theory for GOP voters to prefer DeSantis on electability grounds. Rationally, it’s nutty to nominate someone whom a majority of the country believes may have committed a crime warranting a federal search when you can nominate a guy whom you like and who’s unencumbered by such matters.
Which is not to say that Republican voters will vote rationally in the end, of course.
