A Politico/Morning Consult survey released this week showed former President Trump topping the hypothetical 2024 GOP presidential field, but the list of potential candidates excluded Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a rising force in the GOP.
The survey, fielded February 14-15, 2021, among 1,984 registered voters, shows the former president topping the list of potential contenders by double digits. Trump garners 53 percent support, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence (12 percent), Donald Trump Jr. (6 percent), former U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley (6 percent), Sen. Mitt Romney (4 percent), and Sen. Ted Cruz (4 percent).
The remaining candidates, which included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), garnered two percent support or less.
Notably, the survey excluded Florida Gov. DeSantis, a Trump ally who is considered by many to be one of the rising stars of the Republican Party.
The governor has risen to the political spotlight particularly throughout the Chinese coronavirus pandemic due to his refusal to keep his state locked down and restricted — an approach embraced by blue state governors. Instead, he has lifted business restrictions and continues to refuse to issue a statewide mask mandate, focusing instead on vaccinating seniors across the Sunshine State.
“There’s a whole bunch of things we’ve been doing for COVID, but at the same time, we’ve lifted our state up, we’ve saved our economy and I think we’re going to be first out of gate once we are able to put COVID behind the country,” DeSantis said in a recent interview on Fox News.
“So there’s no basis in medical, there’s no basis in economics, there’s no basis in reality to do this except to punish a state that is doing it better than what his experts have recommended,” DeSantis said in response to rumors of the Biden administration considering imposing travel restrictions on the state.
“Biden is a lockdowner. His experts are lockdowners. Lockdowns don’t work. We’ve demonstrated that. We’re not turning back,” he vowed.