“I cannot ask our supporters to volunteer and donate to our campaign unless there is a clear path to victory,” Florida's current governor said in a video message.
“DeSantis was hoping to win Iowa, but did very poorly there. He didn't get more than 21 percent of the vote,” says US reporter Eric Mouton. “There are primaries again this week, and now in New Hampshire, and he's very low in the polls there. He has no chance of winning, so he's dropped out.”
Trump vs. Haley
This means the battle over who will challenge President Joe Biden within the Republican Party is now down to just two people, Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.
Until about a year ago, DeSantis was considered a challenger to Trump within the Republican Party. There is not much difference between the two in opinion polls. DeSantis presented himself as conservative, but less disturbed, than Donald Trump.
'No soft copy'
Mouthan: “That argument didn't hold. Turns out voters didn't care about all those lawsuits against Trump. And they thought: 'If we want Trump, we want him, not a weak copy.'”
Mouton thinks it won't necessarily turn out badly for Nikki Haley, Trump's only remaining challenger. “Eight years ago, Trump won the nomination even though he didn't get more than 30 percent of the vote, but the rest of the vote was split among all the candidates. That's no longer possible. Haley wanted a race between herself and Trump. Now who has them.”
