Ron DeSantis delivered a charm offensive in a virtual press conference with South Carolina reporters Thursday.
“There’s going to be a lot of campaigning in South Carolina,” DeSantis said, adding that “candidates that don’t do well in the first two states are not going to be viable at that point.”
“And so I think it will be very narrow by the time we get to South Carolina. We will be one of the candidates that will be there and we’re going to be competing very, very hard. If you look at how South Carolina lines up, you know, I’m a great candidate for the state,” DeSantis added.
DeSantis has said he might sign a sublease in South Carolina previously. A new Manhattan Institute poll says that may be a good idea, but it’s more likely he would be renting near a Donald Trump backer than one of his supporters.
The survey of Palmetto State Republicans shows the former President with a more than two-to-one lead, 43% to 21% for the Florida Governor. In-state candidates Tim Scott and Nikki Haley are far behind, meanwhile, at 11% and 8% respectively. No other candidate is at or above 5%.
This is a better poll overall for DeSantis than a recent Fox Business survey, however. In that July poll, Trump has 48% support, with Haley at 14%, DeSantis at 13%, and Scott at 10%. Other candidates are in single digits.
The new poll is the latest to show DeSantis has ground to make up in the state, a read supported by the Race to the White House polling average. On average, Trump has 46% support, with DeSantis at 15%. In-state candidates Haley and Scott are at 13% and 10%, respectively.
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