OPINION: Governor DeSantis is the future of the GOP
By: Tyler Shaw
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis continues to rise in popularity among republicans, independents, and even moderate democrats over the last year.
DeSantis’ rise in popularity began with his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has since continued to rise due to his leadership on key issues–supporting law enforcement, defending women’s sports, taking on the media, limiting the censorship of Big Tech, banning critical race theory from schools and standing up for the rights of Floridians.
In 2020, the governor’s COVID-19 reopening plan quickly became the model for republican governors across the nation and today, with President Trump out of office, Americans have begun to look to Governor DeSantis for leadership in the culture war.
This became apparent in a straw poll recently taken at the Western Conservative Summit. This poll used an “approval method” that allowed participants to vote for multiple responses to each question. In a question asking participants who their preferred 2024 presidential candidate was, Governor DeSantis won the straw poll with 74% approval and former President Trump came in second with 71% approval.
That poll shows a major increase in Governor DeSantis’ popularity since the last major straw poll taken in March at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). There participants were asked similar questions; however, they were limited to one response per question. When asked in the CPAC straw poll who their preferred 2024 presidential candidate was, 55% of the participants responded saying they preferred Trump and 21% responded saying they preferred Desantis.
Governor DeSantis recently attended the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference and gave a passionate speech on fighting back against the left’s agenda that he concluded by saying, “It ain’t going to be easy. You got to be strong. You got to put on the full armor of God. You got to take a stand, take a stand against the left’s schemes, you got to stand your ground, you got to be firm, you will face flaming arrows, but take up the shield of faith and fight on. So I look forward to joining with you in the battles to come. I can tell you that in the state of Florida, I’ll be holding the line, I’ll be standing my ground, I won’t back down, and I have only begun to fight.”
Since Governor DeSantis’ declared that he has ‘only begun to fight’ his popularity has continued to rise. As Florida’s 2022 gubernatorial race comes closer many believe that DeSantis’ will win re-election by a large majority and will go on to be the future of the GOP.
