Ahead of a potential presidential campaign, Ron DeSantis continues to suffer reputational hits from the donor class.
The latest example of such comes from John Catsimatidis. The New York grocery magnate is worth $4.1 billion reportedly, but grouses that Florida’s Governor isn’t interested in having conversations.
“Why would I support somebody to become president of the United States that doesn’t return phone calls?,” the former DeSantis donor rhetorically asked the Washington Examiner, which first reported his discontent Friday.
“Why do people contribute to people? They want to have access and to be able to have a discussion. I have never in 30 years of doing politics asked anybody for anything or a personal favor. Never,” Catsimadis said.
The Catsimatidis defection is just the latest example of a donor who has gone public with DeSantis disquiet.
According to The New York Times, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin has been alienated by DeSantis’ framing of the Ukraine war as a “territorial dispute,” in a statement provided to the now-canceled Tucker Carlson show on Fox News.
Additionally, the state’s new six-week abortion ban, which DeSantis messaged about tentatively during political speeches, reportedly rankled the financier.
The Griffin report comes days after news that another significant donor, Thomas Peterffy, has begun to reevaluate DeSantis in the wake of the abortion ban and what The Guardian calls “book banning.” DeSantis, of course, says such reports are a “political narrative” and a “hoax.”
“I have put myself on hold. Because of his stance on abortion and book banning … myself, and a bunch of friends, are holding our powder dry,” the CEO of Interactive Brokers said this month.
“I am more reluctant to back him,” Peterffy added. “We are waiting to see who among the Primary candidates is most likely to be able to win the General, and then put all of our firepower behind them.”
While three donors may or may not be a meaningful trend, the defections parallel rough polling for the Florida Governor.
An Emerson College poll in the field Monday and Tuesday shows Donald Trump consolidating Republican support in a potential race for President, with 62% of voters polled choosing the former President.
DeSantis was 46 points behind in second place, pulling 16% support — his worst showing in any national survey of the 2024 field in recent memory.
The Emerson poll is significantly worse for DeSantis than the FiveThirtyEight average of polls, which nevertheless shows a Trump trend in aggregate. The former President leads DeSantis 51% to 24% on average, with Pence at 6% and Nikki Haley at 4%.
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