His poll numbers have been bad recently – Donald Trump was well ahead of him: Republican Ron DeSantis has announced that he is withdrawing his candidacy for the US presidency. Now he supports his previous rival.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is dropping out of the Republican presidential nomination race. DeSantis said in a video on the short message service X that he was renouncing and now supporting his previous rival Donald Trump.
“I cannot ask our supporters for their time and donations when there is no clear path for us to victory,” DeSantis said in his video message. “That’s why I’m ending my campaign today.” DeSantis released the video with a quote from Winston Chrchill, the former prime minister of Great Britain: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” In German: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; what counts is the courage to continue.”
Two days before the Republican primary in New Hampshire, DeSantis threw his support behind the former president. “He has my support because we cannot go back to the old Republican guard,” DeSantis said. This also includes Nikki Haley. Over the weekend, they intensified their verbal attacks on Trump and questioned the 77-year-old’s mental state and his suitability for another term as president.
Trump clearly ahead of DeSantis in the Iowa primaries
DeSantis has recently been well behind Trump in polls. Trump also clearly won the primaries in Iowa. According to CNN’s calculations, Trump won more than 50 percent of the vote there. DeSantis was about 30 percentage points behind.
Trump, meanwhile, was “honored” to support the governor, who dropped out of the presidential race. It is now time “for all Republicans to rally behind President Trump” to defeat incumbent Joe Biden in the November presidential election and end his “disastrous presidency,” Trump’s campaign team said.
Former UN ambassador and ex-governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley is still in the running. She was almost tied with DeSantis in the Iowa caucuses, but just behind him in third place.
More hopeful Start, then problems
Initially, DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential election campaign with good prospects of running against Trump. Early pre-election polls suggested the 45-year-old was in a strong position to beat Trump. He and his allies amassed a campaign budget well over $100 million, and he had a strong policy record on issues important to many conservatives, including abortion and the way race and gender are taught in schools.
But the reality was different: From the announcement of his candidacy in the Republican field, which was plagued by technical glitches, to ongoing problems with staff and his campaign strategy, DeSantis struggled to gain a foothold in the primaries. DeSantis also had a reputation for being wooden in his personal dealings with voters. His campaign was also marked by appearances in TV debates that opponents described as “robotic.”
Anyone who wants to become the Republican candidate must first win internal party votes in the individual states. Everything currently indicates that the presidential election in November will see a new edition of the election campaign between Trump and the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.