DeSantis dismisses poor polling numbers in Iowa

GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis dismissed his lackluster polling numbers ahead of the Iowa caucuses on Monday.

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked DeSantis whether he would drop out of the race if he came in third place in Iowa, pointing to a recent NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom that shows the Florida governor trailing former President Trump and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley with 16 percent of support in the state. DeSantis said on “State of the Union” that he predicted he would “do well” in the race in Iowa.

“And so these are folks who are very motivated. Our voters are very motivated. We have spent a lot of time in Iowa because we’ve gone door to door getting people to commit to caucus to us,” DeSantis said.

“We’ve got a huge number of people that have committed to caucus and we expect that these are the people that turn out so there’s a lot of excitement on the ground. We’re in this for the long haul,” he said.

When pressed further on whether DeSantis would stay in the race as it heads to New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the governor said his campaign already has events planned in those early primary states.

“I’m participating in the caucus against Donald Trump. Nikki Haley is not and so she can’t win any delegates in Nevada. My view would be if you’re in it to win it. You got to compete for every single delegate. And so especially when you have the proportional, you got to be out there,” DeSantis said.

Trump is currently leading in Iowa with a nearly 30-point lead over his closest challenger, Haley. DeSantis said the Trump campaign “set high expectations for his performance on Monday,” but noted the former president “may not meet those expectations” in the state.