'Flashing red': DeSantis campaign 'running on fumes' as donor warns 'the cash crunch has accelerated'

10 October 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' hardcore supporters continue to hope that his presidential campaign will recover from its current slump, but according to countless polls, he is still way behind frontrunner Donald Trump among GOP primary voters. Polls released in early October have found DeSantis trailing Trump by 56 percent (Survey USA), 48 percent (Morning Consult) or 45 percent (The Economist/YouGov).

Moreover, DeSantis' campaign — according to a report published by NBC News on October 10 — is suffering a "huge problem" when it comes to fundraising.

NBC News reporters Jonathan Allen, Henry J. Gomez, Matt Dixon and Natasha Korecki explain, "The Florida governor's presidential campaign entered this month with just $5 million in cash available for the primary — a sum that reignites doubts about his solvency, budgeting and ability to gain ground on frontrunning former President Donald Trump. The pain is so acute that DeSantis is redeploying aides from his Tallahassee headquarters to Des Moines for the stretch run of a do-or-die January 15 Iowa caucus."

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A DeSantis donor, interviewed on condition of anonymity, laments that the Florida governor's fundraising has gone from bad to worse.

The donor told NBC News, "The cash crunch has accelerated in the past month. It's a huge problem. If it continues to trend downwards and Trump continues to poll ahead, at some point, they're going to have to figure out if it makes sense to pull out and save face for 2028."

GOP strategist Alex Conant isn't bullish on DeSantis' ability to turn his troubled campaign around.

Conant told NBC News, "I think the DeSantis campaign is flashing red. After a really tough summer, the campaign is running on fumes. And going all in on Iowa, when nothing else has worked, does not build confidence."

Read NBC News' full report at this link.

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