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Ron DeSantis: The governor of Florida is repeatedly traded as a possible Republican presidential candidate
Photo: John Locher/AP
"I've only just begun the fight": That's what Republican Ron DeSantis announced after his brilliant victory as governor of Florida at the US Midterms.
Officially, he has not yet applied for his party's presidential candidacy - but he is considered a promising candidate.
A recent survey shows how promising it would be if he took office: According to this, DeSantis is 23 percentage points ahead of ex-President Donald Trump nationwide.
The Guardian, among others, reports on the survey conducted by USA Today and Suffolk University.
In messages seen by The Guardian, a veteran Trump insider wrote, "He IS in trouble."
A poll by the Wall Street Journal last week gave DeSantis a 14 percentage point lead (52 percent to 38 percent) if he entered the primary campaign.
In another survey, the chances for the ex-president looked better.
According to polls in the same period, the Morning Consult polling institute saw Trump 18 points ahead of DeSantis.
The opinion research website FiveThirtyEight also sees Trump in the lead in most polls.
"Republicans want Trumpism without Trump"
However, David Paleologos, head of the University of Suffolk Policy Research Center, told USA Today: “Increasingly, Republicans and conservative independents want Trumpism without Trump.”
Above all, DeSantis tries to score points with Trump voters with a sharp education and immigration policy.
Most recently, he courted the Republican base by saying he would request the Florida Supreme Court to convene a grand jury to investigate "any wrongdoing" related to the Covid-19 vaccines.
In his state, more than 83,000 people have died as a result of corona disease.
Ex-President Trump announced his candidacy for the presidential election in two years' time shortly after the midterm elections.
The midterms had turned out much less well for the Republicans than expected.
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