Trump's chief pollster explains why Ron DeSantis may be 'inheriting' Trump's role in the GOP

It looks like the political future is bright for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), NBC News reports.

DeSantis may be a polarizing figure overall — it's safe to say he doesn't have many fans in the Democratic Party — but he does appear to have high approval marks across the board in the GOP. He's reportedly garnering interest from donors outside the Sunshine State, and even former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) says he's a "fan."

If DeSantis does decide to run for president in 2024, he'll likely get a boost thanks to his popularity among former President Donald Trump's supporters. Trump's chief pollster from 2016 and 2020, Tony Fabrizio, thinks DeSantis may be the one to fill the void if Trump doesn't take another shot at the White House. "When you look under the hood of those numbers," Fabrizio told NBC News, referring to a recent survey that showed DeSantis was neck and neck with former Vice President Mike Pence in a hypothetical Trump-less 2024 GOP primary, "DeSantis garners a lot of support from Trump voters in the absence of Trump."

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Fabrizio believes the coverage of DeSantis' controversial COVID-19 pandemic decisions helped fuel his national rise. "As the media beat him up as the anti-[New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D)] and DeSantis stood up for himself, voters liked that," Fabrizio said. "They associated that type of scrappiness and speaking your mind with Donald Trump. He is inheriting a lot of that." Read more at NBC News.