IOWA, USA — With just six months to go until the pivotal Iowa Caucuses, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign is focusing its sights on the Hawkeye State and continuing to build up its ground game, in an effort to close in on former President Donald Trump.
DeSantis is back in Iowa again this weekend, as the latest primary poll in the state has him (21%) trailing former President Donald Trump (44%) by 23 points in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott polled third at 7%.
Florida’s governor was among a handful of GOP hopefuls, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, attending the Family Leadership Summit to try and court thousands of evangelical voters. The candidates sat down to talk with former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson.
“[Iowa] is somewhat the Waterloo for Gov. DeSantis and other candidates who need to make inroads on Trump,” Dr. Lars Hafner, 10 Tampa Bay Political Analyst, said.
The governor says he plans on visiting all of Iowa’s 99 counties and his supporters have spent millions of dollars to bolster him and his ground operation.
'It’s not just getting people to the polls. It’s getting people to caucus sites and stand there," Hafner added. "The Trump campaign already knows how it’s done, they’ve been through it before."
10 Tampa Bay spoke on the phone with Ken Cuccinelli, the founder of the Never Back Down super PAC, who's raised millions in support of the governor’s bid.
Cuccinelli says polls are not reflecting what they see on the ground.
“At the super PAC, we've crossed 700,000 doors. And what I can tell you is that the vast majority of voters, who are common primary voters, are still undecided,” Cuccinelli said.
It’s the ground game DeSantis will focus on in the coming months, with other Iowa stops planned and a school training volunteers on how to effectively knock on doors to get his message out.
“We will be at every door of every likely caucus-goer in Iowa five times,” Cuccinelli added.