Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo Grills Florida Governor Ron Desantis About His Lagging Poll Numbers
Fox News presenter Maria Bartiromo grilled Florida Governor and front-runner for the presidency in 2024, Ron DeSantis, about his lagging campaign totals. Bartiromo cited recent polls showing former President Donald Trump far ahead of DeSantis and the rest of the Republican primary field during an interview with the governor on Sunday Morning Futures. (Polling aggregator Five Thirty-Eight polls recently placed Trump 44 points ahead of Florida's governor.) “Let’s face it, governor, Donald Trump is ahead of you by a significant margin,” Bartiromo stated bluntly during the interview. "I think the last poll was 52 percent — above, right now, for Trump. How are you going to cut into Trump’s lead? What truly is your path to victory?” she asked.
Ron DeSantis: 'California represents the petri dish of American leftism' https://t.co/vzSY6Zczwb @SundayFutures @FoxNews #FoxNews
— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) October 1, 2023
As per Huffpost, in response, DeSantis shot back at the host while outlining his strategy for keeping his aspirations for 2024 alive. “You show up, you make the case, you don’t mail it in, you don’t go missing in action, you meet voters on the ground in the early states, Iowa, New Hampshire, in particular, and tell them about the future of the country and why you’re the best candidate,” the Republican leader replied. “And so I think that I’ll be the guy. I’ve been the most dependable leader the Republican Party has had in recent years,” DeSantis continued. “I’ve delivered. I haven’t just talked. And that’s what we need in Washington. The time for excuses is over. 2024 is make or break. We’re not getting a mulligan on this one. We either get the job done or we’re going to be in a hole in this country for the next generation.”
After criticizing Trump, who skipped the debate on Wednesday, DeSantis is now making another effort for the GOP presidential nomination. The same evening, during a speech in Michigan, Trump claimed he didn't see his running mate for 2024 among the "job candidates" present on the debate stage. When asked if he would "partner up" with Trump and choose him as his vice president in 2024, DeSantis ruled it out. “No, I’m running for president,” DeSantis said. “We need somebody that can serve two terms. We need somebody that can win states like Georgia and Arizona, which President Trump cannot do or did not do, even though candidates like McCain and Romney had no problem winning those states.”
DeSantis joined the growing group of contenders vying for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2024 when he declared his intention to run for president in May. As per Newsweek, in a July interview with Bartiromo on her popular segment the governor had joked saying, "The media does not want me to be the nominee. I think that's very, very clear. Why? Because they know I'll beat Biden. But even more importantly, they know I will actually deliver on all these things." DeSantis has continuously shown to be the most major rival, polling in second place but still ahead of others, despite the fact that former president Donald Trump consistently maintains a clear advantage.