(Headline USA) Former President Donald Trump predicted this week that he would win a primary battle against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis if both men decided to launch presidential bids in 2024.
“I don’t know if Ron is running, and I don’t ask him, It’s his prerogative. I think I would win,” Trump said in a recent interview with the New Yorker.
Trump has not committed to a 2024 run, and neither has DeSantis, but both are widely considered frontrunners in the GOP primary if they do decide to run.
Trump still holds an edge over DeSantis in just about every poll. One recent survey, for example, found that 60% of Republican voters want Trump to continue leading the party, while 34% believe the party should move in a different direction.
Another survey conducted in April by Rasmussen Reports found that 40% of voters believe Trump would win the GOP primary, while 22% chose DeSantis.
Republican leaders also remain committed to Trump. Just last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he hopes Trump runs for president again. And Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said Trump had “a good four years” and “ought to do it again.”
DeSantis rose to national prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic and has pegged himself as a conservative cultural warrior by going after woke companies like Disney in his own state. He has not ruled out the possibility of running in 2024, but has said that for right now he “is focused on 2022.”
“All the speculation about me is purely manufactured,” DeSantis said last year. “I just do my job and we work hard … I hear all this stuff and honestly, it’s nonsense.”
