DeSantis to meet with major donors to face questions about campaign 'viability': report

Republican presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis will be flying out to Southhampton, New York next week to have a crisis meeting with major East Coast donors amid stalling poll numbers, Fox News reports.

DeSantis donors are reportedly worried that the governor's current poll numbers present as a threat towards his chances in overtaking former President Donald Trump in the primary, who is the current Republican presidential frontrunner. Trump has been dominating his competition in the polls across the board, and recent campaign rallies boasting more than 50,000 people. 

While in Southhampton, DeSantis will reportedly inform donors that he plans to "play the long game" when it comes to President Trump as they press him about the campaign's viability, according to the network.

DeSantis' campaign team is reportedly telling concerned donors to "ignore the noise" and blaming the lack-of-interest in DeSantis on Democrats in the media that are propping up Donald Trump to make an easier path to victory for Joe Biden in 2024.

During a recent appearance of Fox News with host Maria Baritomo, DeSantis claimed that the media had given him unfair coverage and that this is because he is the only candidate that can defeat President Biden.

"Maria, these are narratives. The media does not want me to be the nominee," DeSantis said. "I think that’s very, very clear. Why? Because they know I’ll beat Biden. But even more importantly, they know that I will actually deliver on all these things. We will stop the invasion at the border. We’ll take on the drug cartels. We’ll curtail the administrative state. We’ll get spending under control. We’ll do all the things that they don’t want to see done, and so, they’re going to continue doing that type of narrative."

Recent polls show that former President Donald Trump is leading DeSantis by 20 points among Floridians who are likely to vote in the Republican primary. The former president currently leads DeSantis 50% to 30% in a survey taken of 315 likely Republican voters, according to the poll.

A top spokesman from the DeSantis Never Back Down PAC, Steve Cortes, admitted recently that the former president is a "runaway frontrunner" and that the campaign for DeSantis has a lot of "work to do" to catch up to Trump.