Ron DeSantis has recently tossed his hat in the race for 2024 but has not received the level of support he needs to overcome former President Donald Trump, who leads the other contenders by double digits. A West Virginia primary poll from ECU shows that the Florida governor is only polling at 9 percent, according to National File.
The poll comes as DeSantis is reportedly making the effort to label himself as a fighter for the working class. But the working-class state does not seem to be buying it. If his numbers do not come up, it could spell disaster for him. West Virginia is reportedly an indicator of how other rust belt states will vote, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.
The ECU poll follows what many others are revealing. Trump has garnered 54 percent support in the state, marking an increase of +45, whereas all of the other candidates are down in the water with below 10 percent support. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is expected to announce his run next week in Iowa, is at 5 percent, Senator Tim Scott at 4 percent, Nikki Haley at 3 percent, Vivek Ramaswamy at 2 percent, and Asa Hutchinson at 2 percent.
West Virginia, a staple of the coal mining and energy industries, was once a deep blue state but has reportedly turned deep red in just a generation. Trump was a champion of protectionist economic policies and brandished himself as a fighter for factory jobs that extended beyond the state. As Michael Moore even put it, Trump visited the Detroit Economic Club and threatened Ford executives with a 35 percent tariff if they closed up shop and moved their jobs to Mexico.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/791738173462310912?s=20
Trump’s message resulted in Ford doing away with its Mexican project and keeping jobs in the U.S.
