DeSantis Dismisses “Fraudulent” Polls Showing Trump with Huge Lead Over GOP Competition
MUSCATINE, IOWA — Ron DeSantis is calling “fake news” on polls that show Donald Trump with a huge lead over his GOP competitors.
At a Veterans for DeSantis Meet and Greet event over the weekend, the Florida governor was asked how he plans to overcome Trump to win the Republican presidential nomination.
Iowa veteran Spence Brown told DeSantis that he’s leaning towards supporting him, but he's concerned about polls that show Trump with a seemingly insurmountable lead.
“Some of this stuff is so fraudulent when you look at it,” DeSantis told Brown, accusing mainstream media of not wanting to release polls if the results are in his favor. “They want Trump to be the candidate for their reasons.”
“I’ve never seen the obsession with these polls before,” DeSantis added. “It’s like they report that it’s actually functional news. And a lot of people pay for these things.”
DeSantis and every other GOP presidential hopeful are trailing former President Trump by a wide margin in national polls. While support for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has risen, it’s declined for DeSantis in some polls.
The latest Des Moines Register/NBC News Iowa Poll shows DeSantis tied Haley for a distant second place among likely Republican voters. Despite that poll’s sterling reputation, DeSantis urgered voters to be skeptical.
DeSantis said he is focused more on winning the Iowa caucus by being the candidate who shows up, rather than simply “juicing a poll.”
“We’ve shown an ability to move and I think in Florida – Florida is a microcosm of this country,” DeSantis said. “I think Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, those states will be great for us and then we’ll battle out those other states, but we’re going to get the job done.”
VETERAN: HE DIDN’T ANSWER MY QUESTION
“I don’t think he answered the question,” Brown later told the Des Moines Register. “Trump’s very far ahead, so the polls are not that far off.”
According to Brown, DeSantis needs to do something different. His advice to the Florida governor is to talk more about his vision “to return the country to a more constitutional republic.”
“He comes across as a manager,” Brown said. “I love that. He’s very capable. But he’s not showing his heart enough and he’s not painting the vision you want to walk into.”
Steve Kallenberger, who said he supported Trump in the past, is still undecided. While he liked what DeSantis had to say, he was hoping to hear more about the governor’s plan to restore the military and return America to the “superpower we once were.”
“Let’s stop worrying about all these little skirmishes and getting our military spread out,” Kallenberger said, adding that he does not want to see any American troops deployed overseas in current international conflicts.
While expressing his support for Israel, DeSantis showed skepticism over aid to Ukraine, criticizing “sending billions of dollars to pay pensions for Ukrainian bureaucrats and their salaries.”
“Obviously, I think that Russia is hostile to the United States,” DeSantis explained. “I also think Russia is more of a threat to Europe than they are to us. But you hear some of these other Republicans acting like this is like ‘Freedom and democracy hangs in the balance.’ I mean, Ukraine, they’ve got rampant corruption. Just be honest about that.”
Kallenberger said he hopes Iowa conservatives will take the time to make a wise decision during the mid-January caucus.
“From people I talk to – conservatives, they’re Republican supporters, of course – it’s almost like it’s either Trump or no-Trump,” Kallenberger said. “It’s either Trump or nobody. It doesn’t even seem like they’re actually taking the time to listen to the other people.”