Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign is betting the farm on winning the 2024 Iowa Caucuses, according to leaked audio from a meeting between the leadership of pro-DeSantis SuperPAC Never Back Down and donors held just before the first Republican primary debate.
Jeff Roe, DeSantis’s Never Back Down PAC chief strategist, also admitted to donors the campaign has just 60 days to defeat former President Donald Trump and that the SuperPAC would need an additional $50 million before the second Republican primary debate on September 27th.
Never Back Down has also halted its paid door-knocking efforts in Super Tuesday primary states, as well as in the critical early state of Nevada. The SuperPAC’s cost cutting moves come as it shifts resources into Iowa – including a nearly $12 million ad-buy announced earlier this week.
Roe told donors: “If you have an education, if you have higher income, if you read the Bible and if you go to church regularly, you happen to be a DeSantis supporter.”
What the DeSantis campaign considers to be a ‘likely DeSantis supporter’ might explain why the Florida Governor has failed to gain traction in polling and trails former President Donald Trump by double digits in most state primary contests. According to the Pew Research Center the majority of American Catholics and Evangelical Protestants earn less than $50,000 per year. Mainline Protestants are early evenly split with with 49 percent estimated to earn less than $50,000 and 51 percent earning more. Only Mormons and Eastern Orthodox Christians have populations with sizable majority earning over $50,000. As far as education, the Pew data indicates well over 40 percent of Catholics and Evangelical Protestants have only a high school education or less – and nearly 40 percent of Mainline Protestants.
