(The Hill) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) blamed members of media outlets for his sagging poll numbers, which have him far behind former President Donald Trump for the lead for the 2024 Republican nomination.
DeSantis said during an interview on Fox News on Thursday that “corporate media” are focusing on him because they do not want him to win the nomination.
“Well, I think if you look at the people like the corporate media, who are they going after?” he said. “Who do they not want to be the nominee? They’re going after me.”
DeSantis also noted that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has called on U.S. citizens to not vote for him, with the governor arguing that it was because “he knows who’ll be strong on the border and hold him accountable and the cartels.”
“So, I think if you look at all these people that are responsible for a lot of the ills in our society, they’re targeting me as the person they don’t want to see as the candidate,” he said.
DeSantis has consistently polled in second place in Republican primary polling since before he launched his campaign in May, but Trump has built up significant leads over all of his current GOP rivals for the nomination. DeSantis has been the only candidate other than Trump to regularly have support in double digits, however.
He said his campaign has just started and is in the process of building up its organization, and that his favorability rating is strong and he expects to be able to improve.
DeSantis also said that he has the “best record of defeating the left” on various issues, and he will make that case to voters in the coming months. He said he is running to win in caucuses and primaries in January and February, not lead in polling now.
The governor’s comments come after Steve Cortes, the top spokesperson for the super PAC supporting him, called Trump the “runaway front-runner” for the nomination. Cortes later said he is convinced DeSantis has a strong path to winning the nomination.