Following last week’s rough-and-tumble Republican primary debate, the campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has opted to pass on attacking the other GOP candidates in the field — instead zeroing in on overhauling former President Donald Trump in the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses.
While national and state polls show DeSantis, 45, a distant second behind the 77-year-old Trump – and have also picked up increased support for rivals Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley – the Florida governor’s campaign says its focus is building up the ground game and the organization to beat Trump in the Hawkeye State.
Currently, the RealClearPolitics polling average shows Trump at 49.2% in Iowa, followed by DeSantis (16.0%), Haley (8.8%), Ramaswamy (7.0%) and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (6.8%).
In response, the DeSantis team notes that voters still have three-and-a-half months to change their minds.
A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found that 31% of likely Republican primary voters are not considering supporting Trump at all, while just 20% say their choice is only Trump.
A DeSantis win in Iowa, the campaign argues, will end any lingering doubt among Republican voters that the primary is a two-man race – and will clarify which man has the clearer path to victory.
“America is getting to know Ron DeSantis as a steady, competent, proven leader who is running to reverse our nation’s decline and deliver results,” DeSantis campaign rep Carly Atchison told The Post. “This is a two-person race, and even Trump’s campaign knows it, which is why they attack him every single day.
“The reality is that Ron DeSantis is the only candidate who can beat Donald Trump in Iowa and beyond.”
The DeSantis campaign also claims Trump’s team recognized the Florida governor’s Iowa plan a few weeks ago, and responded by ramping up their operation after a slow start.
The Trump camp disputes that, with early states director Alex Latcham telling The Post the former president’s visits were “in the works for a long time” before DeSantis stepped up his activity.
“Iowans know who President Trump is,” Latcham added. “This is not a fair comparison.”
“Campaign to campaign comparison? There is no comparison,” added Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung. “We’ve had more events in Iowa than the DeSantis campaign has had in Iowa.”
DeSantis already traveled extensively throughout Iowa alongside his wife Casey, holding 75 events and visiting 58 counties. He’s also secured 40 endorsements from state legislators and support from 120 county chairs – one in each of Iowa’s 99 counties.
The pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down is also focusing heavily on Iowa.
The organization is gearing up for more door-knocking of likely caucus-goers, getting voters to sign up for Jan. 15 and spreading the message that DeSantis has the best plan for the state, a super PAC official told The Post on condition of anonymity.
“This entire race will start to be viewed through that Iowa lens. It’s just how it will naturally happen, but especially here, because Iowa is a place where the former president is seeing cracks in the shield for him,” the official said.
For the Trump camp, thinking Iowa will launch a candidate to victory is an old strategy that is doomed to fail.
“This is just reusing the old strategy in 2016 and we see how well that turned out for President Ted Cruz,” Latcham told The Post.
“The president is a known commodity. He’s got an incredible record that resonates with Iowans. We are going to continue to tell that story and contrast our record with Joe Biden’s and what we hope to achieve in the second term.”
The next big event on the Republican primary calendar is the third debate, set for Nov. 8 in Miami. As with the first two debates, Trump plans to give that gathering a miss, which the DeSantis campaign believes will come with a political price.
The former president has maintained he has no reason to debate his competition, given his lead in the polls.
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