{"id":2000323,"date":"2023-08-14T16:57:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T20:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/desantis-targeted-by-more-negative-expenditures-than-biden-and-trump-combined\/"},"modified":"2023-08-14T16:59:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T20:59:52","slug":"desantis-targeted-by-more-negative-expenditures-than-biden-and-trump-combined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/desantis-targeted-by-more-negative-expenditures-than-biden-and-trump-combined\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis faces more negative spending than Biden and Trump combined."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdesantis-targeted-by-more-negative-expenditures-than-biden-and-trump-combined%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2000323&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>A Quarter of Independent Expenditures\u200c Target Governor Ron DeSantis in \u200d2024\u2062 Election Cycle<\/h2>\n<p>A staggering $20.2 million, a quarter of all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/megadonors-pour-record-amount-of-money-into-get-out-the-vote-effort-for-dems\/\" title=\"Megadonors Pour Record Amount of Money Into \u2018Get Out the Vote\u2019 Effort for Dems\">independent expenditures<\/a> in \u200cthe \u200b2024 election cycle, has been directed towards\u200c Governor \u2064Ron DeSantis \u200c(R-FL). This\u200b amount surpasses the combined spending on both\u2064 positive and negative independent\u2062 expenditures for former\u2063 President Donald Trump and President \u2062Joe Biden.<\/p>\n<h3>Trump and Biden Face Less Negative Expenditures<\/h3>\n<p>According to\u2062 data compiled by Republican consultant \u200cRob\u2064 Pyers, \u200cTrump, the Republican front-runner, faced \u200conly $8.1 million in negative independent expenditures. Biden, the incumbent president \u2064and front-runner\u2064 for\u2062 the 2024 Democratic nomination, was attacked with $9.2\u200b million of \u200cindependent expenditures.<\/p>\n<h3>Why DeSantis is \u200cthe Primary Target<\/h3>\n<p>Republican pollster Doug Usher\u200c explains that negative advertising tends to target the top candidates in polling. However,\u2062 since few Republican\u200b candidates \u2062are willing to go negative on Trump, DeSantis\u2063 ends up taking the most fire. Republican strategist Doug Heye agrees, stating that DeSantis\u200d is seen as \u200bthe biggest obstacle by \u200dmost Republican campaigns. As \u2062for Trump, \u2064candidates are hesitant to criticize him, so funds are not spent attacking him.<\/p>\n<p>According to GOP strategist \u200dSusan Del Percio, the focus on \u200cDeSantis is also\u2062 driven by the fact that he is in\u2062 second place in the Republican primary polls. Other experts\u200c suggest that targeting DeSantis is an effort to define a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/desantis-targeted-by-more-negative-expenditures-than-biden-and-trump-combined\/\" title=\"DeSantis faces more negative spending than Biden and Trump combined.\">lower-profile \u2063politician compared<\/a> to Biden and Trump.<\/p>\n<h3>Defining DeSantis Early<\/h3>\n<p>Political scientist David Darmofal notes that\u200c the focus on DeSantis reflects\u2064 a common political\u200c strategy\u2063 of defining opponents negatively\u2064 before they have a chance to define themselves. DeSantis\u2064 has faced the\u200c most negative independent expenditures \u200cso far, but he has also received significant positive \u200cspending, surpassing both \u200bTrump and Biden.<\/p>\n<h3>Efforts to\u2062 Secure the Nomination<\/h3>\n<p>Experts believe that \u200dthe expenditures against DeSantis \u2064are part of an effort\u2062 to define \u2064him early for voters. GOP strategist Ron Bonjean suggests that DeSantis would be the front-runner if Trump wasn&#8217;t in the race, which is why \u200boutside groups are \u200cspending heavily \u2062to\u200c define him early. The majority of \u2063the $79.9 million spent on\u2064 independent expenditures in the 2024 cycle was specifically targeted at the \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-minority-leader-mccarthy-speaks-highly-of-president-trump-after-previous-critical-comments\/\" title=\"House Minority Leader McCarthy speaks highly of President Trump after previous critical comments\">primary elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Attacks on\u200b DeSantis and the Role of Super PACs<\/h3>\n<p>Most of the negative independent\u2062 expenditures against\u2063 DeSantis came \u2062from Make America Great Again Inc., a\u2063 super PAC supporting Trump. \u200bThe\u2064 PAC \u200dlaunched a \u2062series of ads\u2063 attacking \u200dDeSantis on various issues, causing\u200d a decline in his polling average. However, the PAC has now\u200c shifted its\u2064 focus\u2063 to attacking Biden.<\/p>\n<p>DeSantis&#8217;s campaign and the \u2063super PAC supporting\u200b him view these attacks as evidence that he should be the\u200d nominee in 2024. They believe that \u2063DeSantis is the only candidate who\u200b can beat both Trump and Biden.<\/p>\n<h3>DeSantis&#8217;s Media Strategy Shift<\/h3>\n<p>After a campaign reboot that \u2062involved staff\u200c cuts and a \u200bchange in campaign managers,\u2064 DeSantis is now making\u200b appearances\u2062 on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/legacy-media-largely-ignore-damning-report-about-ny-nursing-home-deaths\/\" title=\"Legacy Media Largely Ignore Damning Report About NY Nursing Home Deaths\">major news networks<\/a>. This change \u2063in\u200c media strategy may indicate an attempt to \u2064appeal to more centrist Republicans and independent\u200c voters.<\/p>\n<p>Hotel\u2064 entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, the largest \u200dindividual\u200b donor to Never Back Down, encourages this shift, stating that DeSantis needs to\u2062 appeal to\u200d moderates in order \u200dto \u2064win.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the onslaught of attacks, \u200dDeSantis remains resilient. His campaign believes that he has\u200d the message and organization to surpass Trump and \u2063make Biden&#8217;s beach vacation permanent.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/quarter-independent-expenditures-target-ron-desantis-2024-election\">The Washington Examiner<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A significant $20.2 million, a quarter of all independent expenditures in the 2024 election, has been focused on Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). This surpasses the combined spending on independent expenditures, positive or negative, for former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. Trump, the leading Republican candidate, faced only $8.1 million in negative independent expenditures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2000324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2000323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}