Staff Reports
It’s a shake-up in the world of 2nd Amendment advocacy groups as they start shifting their support from Ron DeSantis to Donald Trump. The American Firearms Association, one such organization, recently revealed that a whopping three-quarters of its members are now backing Trump for the Republican nomination over DeSantis. This is a drastic turnaround from just last year when DeSantis was their golden boy due to his strong stance on the 2nd Amendment. However, DeSantis’s campaign has hit a snag lately, and losing the support of the 2nd Amendment voters certainly won’t be helping the Florida Governor in his bid to beat Trump for the nomination.
.@2A_Freedom said that nearly three-quarters of its members now back Trump for the GOP nomination, giving up on Florida Gov. @RonDeSantis, who led a similar survey in November.https://t.co/KtGxy3wrFl
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 27, 2023
The writing is on the wall for DeSantis. Last November, he had a commanding lead of 68% to 28% over the former President. However, the tides have turned, and Trump’s path to victory is starting to appear inevitable. Patrick Parsons, the executive vice president of the American Firearms Association, sheds some light on this trend. He explains that late last year, DeSantis was the favored candidate among their members, but now the numbers have completely flipped in favor of Trump. Parsons attributes this shift to Trump’s constant attacks on DeSantis, coupled with DeSantis’s lack of response. It seems that gun owners see Trump as the fighter they want to take on Biden in 2024.
NEW PRESIDENTIAL POLL RESULTS
AFA asked more than 2,000 of our members nationwide:
Donald Trump: 70.76%
Ron DeSantis: 15.54%
Vivek Ramaswamy: 4.29%
Nikki Haley: 2.32%
Tim Scott: 2.32%
Mike Pence: 1.5%
Doug Burgum: less than 1%
Chris Christie: less than 1%
Other: 2.43% pic.twitter.com/s3AjkiGScj— American Firearms Association (@2A_Freedom) July 26, 2023
The American Firearms Association conducted a nationwide poll of its members yesterday asking the following question.
Who do you support for President: Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, or someone else?
Results:
Ron DeSantis: (68.8%)
Donald Trump: (28.9%)
Someone else: (2.3%) pic.twitter.com/UrQnruRO0c— American Firearms Association (@2A_Freedom) November 11, 2022
DeSantis’s failure to play dirty like Trump has cost him support among conservatives. In the cutthroat world of politics, the ability to fight back by any means necessary is crucial. Democrats have shown they will do anything to win, so any Republican aspiring to be President needs to demonstrate that they will do the same. Unfortunately for DeSantis, he hasn’t been able to make up any ground on Trump, even with all the negative press surrounding the former President.
A lot has changed in the past year. Trump’s political career seemed dead in the water, and many Republicans believed DeSantis was the future. But now Trump is stronger than ever, leaving DeSantis with some catching up to do. DeSantis must also learn from this campaign and the mistakes he made in selecting his campaign team. His approach was lackluster, resembling failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s milquetoast campaign in 2012. Well, those old strategies just don’t work anymore thanks to Trump’s game-changing style. While there’s still time for DeSantis to turn things around, it’s imperative that he acknowledges the errors that landed him in this predicament and adjusts his course accordingly. Trump has shown the world how it’s done, and DeSantis must take notes if he wants to compete with the big guns.
