Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is interpreting a recent Iowa poll in terms that differ from the general narrative.
A survey conducted by NBC News, the Des Moines Register and Mediacom last week showed former President Donald Trump maintaining a 27-point lead over his Republican rivals in Iowa less than three months before the state kicks off the GOP presidential nominating contest. DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley are tied for second place at 16%.
While Trump's advantage was no surprise, many pundits suggested the poll results were encouraging for Haley and worrisome for DeSantis.
Not so, says Florida's governor.
"[The survey results] did say that I have the highest favorability and the highest percentage of Iowans that are considering voting for me and I clearly have a path to win the caucus," DeSantis said on Tuesday's Hugh Hewitt Show.
"I don't think anyone else other than me or Trump has that path based on the underlying data."
A total of 52% of participants in the Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa survey said DeSantis was their "second choice" or that they were "actively considering" him.
"I like his stance on abortion on the moral side of life," poll respondent Roxi Gillen, 60, of Norwalk, Iowa, told NBC News.
DeSantis also is at 69% favorability, the highest of the candidates.
Still, the latest poll results showed Haley has gained 10 points and DeSantis has lost 3.
"Donald Trump is spending a million dollars attacking me in Iowa. Haley’s super PAC is spending big money to attack me in Iowa. You don’t do that unless you view me as the threat," DeSantis told Hewitt.
"So I think it’s fine, some of the public data that gets put out. How accurate it's been over the year, I think is definitely open to question."
DeSantis added that his campaign has "the widest possible pool of voters to draw from of any candidate that’s running."
"We've got 20-some thousand already committed to caucus, and we still have most of the vast majority of voters haven't even made up their minds, yet," he told Hewitt. "So we're going to keep doing what we're doing. We've built a strong base of support. And then it's all about bringing it in for a landing as people make their decisions."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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