Ron DeSantis blasts Joe Biden, Nikki Haley

Image via Ron DeSantis campaign.

Ron DeSantis is telling South Carolina voters all about one of his Primary opponents and the current President, with some new lines added to the speech after the Iowa caucuses.

During a rally in Greenville, the Republican presidential candidate advanced a new disparagement of President Joe Biden’s alleged infirmity, calling him “six fries short of a Happy Meal.”

He also talked about his debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom as preparation for debating Nikki Haley, saying that by debating Newsom he got “practice debating someone as liberal” as the former South Carolina Governor. From there, he offered more familiar commentary about Haley’s lack of conservative “big victories,” compared to what he accomplished in Florida.

DeSantis has called himself a “great candidate” for South Carolina and has suggested that he may sign a sublease in South Carolina to campaign ahead of their February Presidential Primary. But polling points to an uphill path in the Palmetto State.

His 7% showing in an Emerson College survey released earlier this month put him 47 points behind Donald Trump and 22 points behind Haley.

The Emerson survey showed DeSantis worse off than in various other polls from late in 2023.

A Trafalgar Group survey in the field in early December found the Florida Governor at 14%. He had 11% in a November Fabrizio, Lee, and Associates survey, A recent Winthrop University survey showed DeSantis at 12% support. A CNN survey conducted from Oct. 18 through Oct. 25 showed DeSantis with 11% support.

The allocation of the state’s 50 delegates to the Republican National Convention favors the overall winner, with 29 going to the candidate that wins overall, and the winner of each of the state’s seven congressional districts gets three delegates per localized triumph.