Donald Trump has lashed out at Fox News' Laura Ingraham after she presented a segment discussing Florida Governor Ron Desantis' 2024 chances during her prime-time show.
Writing on Truth Social, the former president accused Ingraham of carrying out a "hit piece" on him during Monday night's show. in which the Fox News host discussed DeSantis recently trying to appeal to evangelical Christians, a key GOP demographic, with a speech at the National Religious Broadcasting convention in Orlando ahead of his expected 2024 announcement.
Ingraham and Common Sense Society executive editor Chris Bedford also discussed recent polls that suggested that DeSantis, and not Trump, would beat President Joe Biden in a potential presidential face-off in 2024 in the key swing states of Arizona and Georgia.
The Public Opinion Strategies survey released May 19 shows DeSantis beating Biden in Arizona by 47 to 43 percent, with the incumbent president beating Trump 46 to 44 percent. The same poll showed DeSantis leading Biden in Georgia (45 to 42 percent), with Biden also beating Trump (44-43 percent.)
In response, Trump cited a separate poll showing the former president and Biden beating DeSantis in "rust belt" states of Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
"Laura Ingraham on FoxNews just did a hit piece on me (there go her ratings!) showing some polls which indicate that Ron DeSanctimonious may do better against Biden than I would, when actually polls show that I do MUCH better against Biden than 'Rob.'"
In the Truth Social post, Trump shares a screenshot of Fox News showing the results of the Richard Barris Poll of rust belt states, with Trump beating Biden 45 to 38.1 percent, while Biden taking DeSantis 38.6 to 35.1 percent.
"The poll you're looking at now, which has me doing far better against Crooked Joe, was just put out by FOX, I am sure unhappily. I'm also leading DeSanctus by over 40 points in Primary Voting."
Ingraham did mention on Monday night's show that Trump remains the "overwhelming" favorite to clinch the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, and currently has a "stunning" lead over DeSantis in the polls.
According to FiveThirtyEight's national average tracker, Trump is ahead in the GOP primary with 53.5 percent, with DeSantis a distant second on 20.8 percent.
Elsewhere, Ingraham previously tweeted the results of a separate Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll on May 19 showing Trump beating Biden in a hypothetical presidential election by 47 to 40 percent.
Newsweek has contacted Fox News for comment via email.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
