As the 2024 GOP primary field continues to grow, one polls shows Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has an uphill climb not only to catch former President Donald Trump but also to win the battle to be Trump's chief challenger now, according to presidential adviser Dick Morris on Newsmax.
"They show that Trump absolutely maintains a stranglehold over this field," Morris told "Saturday Report," referring to the McLaughlin & Associates poll released Thursday. "And even though this poll was literally conducted as DeSantis was announcing, or attempting to announce, he still has this enormous lead."
The battle for second is more intriguing, according to Morris.
"All of these other candidates are draining votes from DeSantis, which means the real fight now is not for first place, but for second place," Morris told host Rita Cosby. "Tim Scott, who announced the same time as DeSantis, is in third place now at 7% of the vote, nipping at DeSantis' heels, and I think DeSantis is going to have a tough time."
As 1-2-3 is called win-place-show, Morris said DeSantis will have a tough time "placing."
Trump gets 50% support in the nine-candidate field in the latest Iowa poll conducted by McLaughlin, but draws 54% support when it is just a hypothetical head-to-head question versus DeSantis, according to the poll.
"The extra candidates will hurt DeSantis because it's more places to divide up the vote of people that would like an alternative to Trump," Morris told Cosby.
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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