Vocal minority of Republicans' do not want Trump or DeSantis

 Washington Examiner:

Republicans who would like to see the party move beyond former President Donald Trump have a problem: Many of them don’t like the Republican best situated to beat him.

Trump continues to lead in polls testing Republican voters' preferences for nomination for president in 2024. The second-place finisher is usually Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

If Trump doesn’t end up running, pluralities of Republicans and GOP-leaning voters tell pollsters that DeSantis is their first preference. And in a few places, such as their shared home state of Florida, there are polls showing DeSantis leading even if Trump does run.
...

But a lot of prominent Republicans who don’t like Trump are not fond of DeSantis either.

"I think that Ron DeSantis has lined himself up almost entirely with Donald Trump, and I think that’s very dangerous,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) told the New York Times. If DeSantis was nominated, she “would find it very difficult” to support him.

“A number of Republicans would be far, far better for the country and the GOP,” Never Trump commentator David French wrote in a Twitter thread on the “DeSantis discourse.” “So hopping on the DeSantis train simply to block Trump is *way* premature.”

The Bulwark published results of a focus group of Florida voters who switched from Trump to President Joe Biden in 2020. Many participants did not like DeSantis or Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) either. (Unlike Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, or Arizona, Florida did not flip in 2020, and Trump-to-Biden voters were not decisive.)

Among GOP Trump detractors, the case against DeSantis is that he has not distanced himself enough from the former president, that he shares much of Trump’s combative personal style and confrontational posture toward Democrats and the press, and that he is too populist in messaging and substance, like Trump.
...

Many Never Trump Republicans do not merely want the party to have a different leader than Trump. They want Trump to be repudiated by the GOP and replaced by someone who rejects “Trumpism.” But as the Cheney primary and most other contests involving the 10 House Republicans who voted for Trump’s second impeachment illustrated, there aren’t many Never Trump Republicans.
...

It is hard to imagine anyone that Cheney endorsed getting majority support from Republicans.  They would therefore be a sure loser.  Notice that the never-Trumpers do not name an alternative to Trump or DeSantis.  The media thinks Pence might work, but at this point, I do not think he can beat Trump or DeSantis.

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