Gov. Ron DeSantis is betting heavily on the Hawkeye State during his 2024 presidential run.
As he continues campaigning through the state’s 99 counties, the Republican candidate is touting his caucus commitments as something that may not come across in polls, but that he nonetheless expects to matter next year when Iowans make their presidential selections known.
“We think by the end of today, we will have already signed up 20,000 (to) commit to caucus. And to put that in perspective, that was more than every candidate except three got in 2016 on the actual caucus night. And here we are with, you know, more than 90 days left to go,” DeSantis said on WHO’s “Today in Iowa” Saturday.
While 20,000 is a formidable number of commitments, DeSantis will have a ways to go to hit the number amassed by Iowa winner Ted Cruz in 2016, when he pulled 51,666 Iowa voters. Donald Trump had more than 45,000 Iowans turn out for him, meanwhile, and Marco Rubio had more than 43,000 supporting him.
DeSantis is in Iowa all day Saturday for a series of events that are being staged by the Never Back Down super PAC, including multiple town halls and other stops.
A new Iowa State University/Civiqs poll shows that he has ground to make up in the state, meanwhile. While the Governor’s 17% support locks up second place for the moment, it still puts him far behind front runner Trump, who has 58% support.
The Race to the White House polling average for the state finds Trump ahead of DeSantis also, but by a somewhat less formidable margin: 48% to 17%.
Polls notwithstanding, DeSantis tells WHO he’s confident based on what he’s hearing from people who have seen the Iowa process before.
“People have told me who have been involved with previous winners of the caucuses the last three times we’ve had contested Republican caucuses,” DeSantis said, “They say, ‘Man, you’re way ahead of where the winners were at the time.’”
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