Coverage Agenda
Much has been made of a poll released by NBC yesterday showing Donald Trump well ahead of any challengers for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump is the favorite of 46 percent of GOP primary voters, far outdistancing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 31 percent despite not officially entering the race yet. No one else was even close to double figures, much less offering either man a challenge.
That poll had some other interesting points, which we’ll discuss tomorrow. And presuming the poll has some validity, numbers don’t lie, so it’s a story.
But much has been made of DeSantis stumbling out of the gate so far in his trips around the country. We’ve talked about it here, but increasingly, the formerly mainstream media has been getting into the act, as well.
That makes a person wonder why…why such negative coverage of DeSantis? For those folks in the media who hate Trump, wouldn’t you think they’d build up someone who could take him out early?
It may be because while Trump consistently outpaces DeSantis as the choice of GOP voters, when folks are asked about a general election match up, DeSantis does at least as well against Joe Biden than Trump does…and sometimes, better.
So it may be that Trump is the one who has the easiest path to the nomination…but that DeSantis has the better chance in the general election. And if so…that might explain why so many in the big legacy media are trying to pull him down—they think Biden would have a tougher time against DeSantis than a rematch against Trump.
It could be nothing other than straight-forward reporting. But as always, it’s good to at least examine the motives behind certain shifts in news coverage. And as promised, more on the new NBC poll tomorrow.
