Dick Morris to Newsmax: Trump Has ‘Gigantic’ Lead Post-DeSantis Announcement

Dick Morris, author and adviser to former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Friday that new polling released after Florida’s GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his candidacy shows Trump with a “huge, gigantic” lead of 25 percentage points.

“These polls are actually the only polls in the country conducted after the DeSantis announcement,” Morris said during “American Agenda” Friday. “Trump is emerging from [DeSantis’] announcement this week with a huge, gigantic lead.”

Morris referred to a McLaughlin & Associates poll conducted May 23-25 with likely GOP primary voters that has the former president leading DeSantis by 25 percentage points, 49.5% to 24.5%.

The poll information did not include the number of participants or the margin of error.

Morris said that DeSantis is making a mistake by focusing strictly on the advancements he made while being governor of Florida, and by not addressing what issues he could face running the nation.

“The problem is he’s running for president,” Morris said. “He did nothing to suggest that he can deal [with issues] as a president, as opposed to those of being governor.”

DeSantis ended months of speculation Wednesday when he announced his candidacy in the 2024 race in a glitch-filled broadcast on Twitter.

“American decline is not inevitable — it is a choice. And we should choose a new direction — a path that will lead to American revitalization,” DeSantis said on the glitchy stream, racing through his conservative accomplishments. “I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback.”

The audio-only stream crashed several times prior to the announcement, greatly reducing the about 600,000 initially going to Twitter Spaces online, to about a third of that number by the time DeSantis made the announcement.

Trump and other GOP opponents jumped on the problematic announcement immediately.

“Wow! The ‘DeSanctus’ TWITTER launch is a DISASTER!” Trump said in a post on his own Truth Social media platform. “His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!”

Morris said Friday that the whole episode appeared similar to a minor league baseball player going to the major league and finding out that the competition is much harder.

“It’s like sending someone up to the major leagues from Triple A,” Morris said.

The new polling also found that Trump is considered better positioned than DeSantis to beat Democratic President Joe Biden in the general election, 47.5% to 31%, according to the poll.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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