Former President Donald Trump regularly boasts of his lead in the polls against Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) as the latter prepares to announce his run for President in 2024.
"I'm doing much better against Biden than [DeSantis] is in the polls, and I'm doing much better against him. I mean, I'm beating [DeSantis] by 40 points in some polls, so he can talk about what he wants," President Trump recently told The Messenger.
President Trump was not wrong, as the latest average of polls updated by Real Clear Politics shows Trump ahead of Gov. DeSantis by a whopping 36.9% on average. While this does not mean the gap can (and likely will) tighten once Gov. DeSantis officially announces his candidacy, one must occasionally ask, "Do the polls matter?"
In April, during his visit to Japan, DeSantis initially dismissed polling data on the grounds of not being a candidate yet.
"I'm not a candidate, so we'll see if and when that changes," DeSantis told the press in Tokyo.
However, he seemed to have changed his tune in recent weeks.
Fox News reported DeSantis supposedly said in a call with donors that he believed himself one of the only three "credible" candidates in the 2024 Election. Only two candidates, he continued, have favorable chances, those being himself and President Biden, based on polling data from swing states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
"You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing. Biden, Trump, and me. And I think of those three, two have a chance to get elected president — Biden and me, based on all the data in the swing states, which is not great for the former president and probably insurmountable because people aren’t going to change their view of him," DeSantis allegedly stated.
DeSantis also stated that "The corporate media wants Trump to be the nominee" since the press is paying far more attention to him than they are paying attention to Trump.
But while all the public opinion polls show Trump defeating DeSantis, DeSantis so-called "influencers," sycophants, and activists, are dismissing Trump's lead.
What DeSantis World is doing is pointing to the polling that shows President Joe Biden defeating Trump in a hypothetical general election match-up. Team DeSantis, echoes DeSantis and contends that voters should support DeSantis because they believe only he can win in the general election.
So, according to Team DeSantis, believe only the part of the polls they support.
Again, its too early to know who will prevail in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race.
DeSantis's campaign will soar once he announces, but will it be enough to overtake Trump?
