- Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina as the first stops for his presidential campaign, aiming to build political momentum for the 2024 primary season.
- DeSantis will engage in a series of activities including speeches, stops, and fireside chats during a four-day trip from May 30 to June 2.
- Despite leading President Joe Biden by seven points in Iowa, DeSantis trails former President Donald Trump by a significant margin. He also faces competition from secondary challengers like Chris Sununu in New Hampshire and Nikki Haley in South Carolina.
In an attempt to garner political momentum in states commencing the 2024 primary season, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday morning that the first stops of his presidential campaign will take place in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
According to the governor’s political operations team, DeSantis will conduct “speeches, stops, and fireside chats” between May 30 and June 2. The announcement comes less than 12 hours after DeSantis took to Twitter Spaces alongside Elon Musk to formally announce his candidacy for the 2024 election cycle.
Throughout the four-day trip, DeSantis is planning to visit five cities in Iowa, with the official campaign kickoff taking place in the capital, Des Moines, followed by visits to four cities in New Hampshire and concluding with three cities in South Carolina.
“We are laser-focused on taking Governor DeSantis’ forward-thinking message for restoring America to every potential voter in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina,” said campaign manager Generra Peck. “Our campaign is committed to putting in the time to win these early nominating states. No one will work harder than Governor DeSantis to share his vision with the country — he has only begun to fight.”
In a general election head-to-head poll for Iowa, DeSantis leads President Joe Biden by seven points, but trails former President Donald Trump in the state by 42 points (62 percent to 20 percent), according to a poll released by Emerson College on Thursday morning.
“The former president’s base continues to be voters under 35: 75 percent of whom support Trump, and voters without a college degree: 70 percent support Trump. DeSantis’s support is higher among voters with a postgraduate degree, with 29 percent support, still trailing Trump’s 37 percent with this group,” said Spencer Kimball, Executive Director of Emerson College Polling.
According to an American Greatness survey conducted on May 17 and 18, Trump holds a 21-point advantage over DeSantis in New Hampshire, however, the Florida governor faces a secondary challenger in New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who trails DeSantis by one point.
Per the polling agency, the top issues for New Hampshire GOP primary voters are border security (22 percent), liberal politicians in D.C. (21 percent), and taxes/cost of living (16 percent.)
DeSantis faces a similar challenge in South Carolina, where Trump leads the crowding GOP field with 37 percent of the vote, according to a National Public Affairs poll. Acrruing 20 percent of the vote and representing DeSantis’ smallest deficit to Trump among early primary states, he faces another secondary challenger in the upstart former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who landed just two points off of DeSantis.