Former President Trump predicted Tuesday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has long been considered his closest GOP challenger in the 2024 primary, will drop out of the race.
“Ron DeSanctimonious has the Poll numbers of a wounded bird falling from the sky,” Trump said on Truth Social. “I am up on him by 57 points, and going higher.”
“He has proven to be a terrible and inept candidate who even fought Social Security and MediCare,” he continued. “He will SOON be out of money and dropping out of the race for President. After having single handidly gotten him elected Governor, with no thanks or glory, it has been a beautiful thing to watch. Good luck Ron!”
DeSantis’s team pushed back against a similar claim from Trump in August, when the former president said he’d heard “rumors” DeSantis would drop out of the White House race to run for Senate.
“This is nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of Donald Trump because he is feeling the heat,” DeSantis’s campaign press secretary, Bryan Griffin, told The Hill in response to Trump’s latest post, citing endorsements for the governor in key early states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
“DeSantis is setting the pace in the early states and building the largest grass-roots infrastructure of any candidate this cycle. Donald Trump simply can’t keep up,” Griffin added.
Trump remains the front-runner of the Republican primary race, while DeSantis has long appeared in polling as the runner-up. But in recent weeks, the Florida governor’s poll numbers have appeared to slip, as Trump maintains his commanding lead.
Some polling in August showed DeSantis tied for second with conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Last month, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley bumped ahead of DeSantis into second place behind Trump in New Hampshire.
The former president’s reference to a 57-point lead appears to come from a poll from the left-leaning Clarity Campaign Labs, showing Trump at 67 percent — and DeSantis tied with Ramaswamy at 10 percent each among the GOP field.
An Emerson College poll last month found Trump’s lead at 47 points over his GOP rivals.
–Updated at 2:31 p.m.