US presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, once considered the Republicans’ best option against Donald Trump, dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday, indicating that the former president still wields enormous influence over the party.
Forty-five years old DeSantis supported Trump in a video posted on the X social network.
DeSantis was considered one of the leading contenders for the 2024 Republican nomination and a natural successor to Trump because of his combative style and deeply conservative views. At the beginning of 2023, he was ahead of Trump in several polls.
But support for the Florida governor has been in decline for several months, due to mistakes in the campaign strategy, the inability to connect with voters and Trump’s grip on the majority of the party’s base.
The end of DeSantis’ candidacy means that former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley is now the last Republican in the race to have a chance, albeit a slim one, of capturing Trump’s nomination. The winner of the Republican primary will face Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the November general election.
More than 70 percent of Republicans prefer Trump, according to most polls. That put DeSantis in a position where he had to appeal to voters who admire Trump as well as those who hate him passionately.
DeSantis failed in neither. He never impressed most of Trump’s supporters because the former president is a better option, while Republicans who don’t want to vote for the former president will split their votes among several different candidates.
As the fight consolidates, Halli is emerging as a favorite among moderate Republicans. Whenever DeSantis expressed a different political stance than Trump, it was almost always to take a more conservative position. In April, he signed a ban on abortion after six weeks, which he eventually embraced on the campaign trail, despite the decision bothering some donors and moderate Republicans, Hina news agency writes.
