Gov. Ron DeSantis is returning to Iowa Friday and Saturday, attempting to gain ground on Donald Trump over the next couple of days.
The Governor and First Lady Casey DeSantis will hold a meet-and-greet in Fort Dodge at 9 a.m., and a roundtable with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig in Boone at noon Friday. He will also deliver remarks at the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines Friday.
On Saturday, Mr. and Mrs. DeSantis will hold another meet and greet at 9 a.m. in Winterset. After that, the Governor will be one of the so-called "wingmen" at U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn's "Operation Top Nunn: Salute to Our Troops" fundraiser, joining U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst for an event starting at 1 p.m. at the Ankeny Airport.
The ground game is accentuated by air support courtesy of the Never Back Down PAC, which has already spent $5 million on TV ads, as Axios notes.
The Governor says his efforts in Iowa and other early states are a methodical means of building support for the long haul.
"We have a state-by-state process so, what we focused on is getting footholds in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina," DeSantis told radio host Howie Carr Wednesday.
"I'm going to be in Iowa the next few days, we're going to be back in New Hampshire very soon, same with South Carolina, and you build support. It doesn't happen overnight. And I can tell you what we found with Republican voters, we get very favorable views, in terms of, they know I've done a good job as Governor, when they come out and hear me, they sign up and they want to support us."
DeSantis' next trip to Iowa, a little more than a week after Casey DeSantis launched a national "Mamas for DeSantis" movement, comes in the wake of less-than-sterling polling.
A new survey conducted by National Research Inc. and reported by American Greatness shows Trump with 44% support, with DeSantis drawing 21%, a 23-point lead well outside the +/- 4.38-percentage-point margin of error. Trump's lead has grown from the 39% to 24% advantage he enjoyed a month prior.
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott's 7% is good for third place, ahead of Chris Christie, Mike Pence and Vivek Ramaswamy (each at 3%). Nikki Haley (2%) and Asa Hutchinson (1%) are even further back. Undecided voters make up 14% of the sample.
The Governor's path is narrow, the polling memo says: "DeSantis is losing among voters who have a favorable impression of him. Twenty-eight percent of these folks say DeSantis is their preferred candidate while 42% chose Trump. Voters who have a favorable impression of both men chose Trump as well, 55% to DeSantis's 25%."
The Race to the White House average for the state shows Trump leading DeSantis, 45% to 21%.
Trump was in Iowa recently. He messaged heavily about DeSantis' previous opposition to ethanol subsidies. The former President has discussed this matter previously, in an effort to show DeSantis doesn't support the priorities of the state's corn farmers.
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