Gov. Ron DeSantis has messaged heavily around the state response in the weeks since Hamas attacked Israeli citizens. But new polling from a key early state in the presidential race suggests that message may be hitting deaf ears.
The Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted from Oct. 22 to Oct. 26 shows that just 9% of likely Hawkeye State caucus participants believe the Florida Governor is the best bet in the GOP field to address the situation in the Middle East.
To put that number in perspective, that’s a little more than half of the 16% of Iowans who say they support his presidential run.
Iowans seem more comfortable to have foreign policy handled by people with proven records in the executive branch.
Former President Donald Trump is seen as the best option by 52% of respondents, while former United Nations envoy Nikki Haley is regarded as the strongest by 22%. Each of those numbers exceeds their performance in the overall poll, which finds Trump at 43% and Haley tied with DeSantis in second place at 16%.
“Just 34% of DeSantis’ own supporters say he would be best at handling the war, while 32% of his supporters say Trump would be best, and 18% name Haley,” the Register notes.
DeSantis, the only military veteran in the field and one who served in the Middle Eastern theater, has advised caution as far as active American involvement in what he said would be a “blunder” of a war. He has described American troops deployed to the region as “sitting ducks” and has pressed President Joe Biden to explain the strategy, thus far to no avail.
He also has made comments critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, describing the public as “very disenchanted” with the Likud regime, with the Hamas attacks a “big problem” for them.
DeSantis has been sharply critical of Hamas also, saying that if those “barbarians had their way, they would try to do a second Holocaust in our time,” describing the Oct. 7 terror attacks as the “personification of evil.”
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