Florida Governor Ron DeSantis responded to questions about how he is trailing former president Donald Trump in polls and endorsements, by noting he is not even in the race.
Mr DeSantis is currently in Tokyo as he continues to prepare for a potential White House run. CNN reported that one member of the press asked him about the fact he is currently far behind Mr Trump in polls.
“I'm not a candidate, so we'll see if and when that changes,” Mr DeSantis said.
Despite the fact that he has been touted as the most viable challenger to the former president, Mr DeSantis has fallen behind Mr Trump in many key aspects in the shadow presidential primary. A Wall Street Journal poll found that the 14-point lead the Florida governor had in December had devolved into a 13-point deficit.
Mr Trump leads among Republican primary voters with 51 per cent of the vote compared to Mr DeSantis’s 38 per cent. This has come after Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked Mr DeSantis, calling him “DeSanctimonious,” and criticising him for wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare.
In addition, despite Mr DeSantis venturing to Washington, where he served as a Congressman from 2013 to 2018 before he ran for governor, Mr Trump received a slew of endorsements from the Republican members of Florida’s delegation, including Representatives Greg Steuebe, Carlos Gimenez, Brian Mast and Vern Buchanan.
While Mr DeSantis has mostly refrained from criticising Mr Trump, many in the former president’s inner circle and his most outspoken defenders lambasted Mr DeSantis when he said “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.”
The line was seen as a swipe at Mr Trump ahead of his eventual indictment and arraignment for charges related alleged hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
In addition, he received staunch criticism when he called the war in Ukraine a “territorial dispute” between Russia and Ukraine.
Mr DeSantis has made targeting how gender identity, sexual orientation and racism are discussed in schools a hallmark of his campaign. More recently, he openly toyed with the idea of building a prison near Disneyworld because of its opposition to his “Don’t Say Gay” law.
