Elon Musk Supports Ron DeSantis for 2024 Nomination But Trump’s Lead Increases

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is all set to formally launch his 2024 presidential campaign with a signature interview appearance with SpaceX Founder Elon Musk. The twitter event is expected to take place on Wednesday, ending months of speculation about the Florida governor’s entry into the Republican nomination race, which is led by former president Donald Trump currently.

First Time

“I will be interviewing Ron DeSantis and he has quite an announcement to make … It will be the first time that something like this is happening on social media and with real time questions and answers, not scripted,” Musk said Tuesday on the sidelines of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit.

The Donald Trump campaign dismissed the launch event, saying it was one of the most out of touch political campaign launches in recent times. Tech entrepreneur David Sacks, who had organized a 2021 fundraiser for Desantis in San Francisco, is expected to moderate the discussion between DeSantis and Musk.

Why Does Musk Support DeSantis?

Musk has been bemused with the Democrats, as he believes US cities have become crime infested badlands under the watch of Republicans. In general Musk’s sympathies are with the political right but he does not believe Donald Trump has the chance to win the 2024 election.

According to Musk, DeSantis is the more winnable Republican candidate in the fray. “My preference, and I think the preference of most Americans, is really to have someone fairly normal in office … I think we’d all be quite happy with that, actually. I think someone that is representative of the moderate views that I think most of the country holds, in reality,” Musk said at the summit, according to the USA Today.

CNN Poll Says Trump is Far Ahead of DeSantis

Meanwhile, the latest CNN opinion poll on the Republican candidates for the US election 2024, Musk holds an overwhelming support among the GoP voters. The latest poll showed that the former president has the support of more than half of his party. While the former president won 53 percent support, DeSantis had won only 26 percent support.

Apart from Trump and DesSantis — who are leading the fray at this point — the Republican hopefuls also include South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley. But they lag too much behind the frontrunners, with the support of around 6 percent each.

“Trump’s substantial advantage in first-choice support over DeSantis marks a shift from CNN’s March polling, which found the two men roughly neck-and-neck. That movement in Trump’s favor mirrors the findings of other recent national polling on the race,” the report says.