A planned trip to Iowa on Wednesday for former Vice President Mike Pence is fueling speculation that he will run for the Republican nomination in 2024 against his former boss, former President Donald Trump.
The Hill reported Monday that Pence is heading to the first state to be polled in the 2024 GOP primary, swinging through three locations including Cedar Rapids, Urbandale, and Coralville, his Great America Committee announced Monday.
The move is seen as an indication that Pence may soon officially announce his intention to run in 2024, joining Trump, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
According to the report, Pence will attend events at the Westside Conservative Club, Johnson County Republicans, and a “fireside chat” and book signing.
Trump and Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis have already visited the state, although DeSantis has not yet said that he will run.
According to the Des Moines Register, Trump visited the state March 13, days following DeSantis visiting Davenport and Des Moines, and took the opportunity to criticize his closest polling rival.
“He was very, very bad on ethanol and fought it all the way. And he also fought against Social Security,” the news outlet reported Trump saying, calling DeSantis “Ron DeSanctus.”
DeSantis, meanwhile, used his visit to tout his own record in Florida, according to the report.
According to a Real Clear Politics average of nine polls between Feb. 19 and March 23, Trump is leading DeSantis for the GOP nomination by around 15 percentage points, 44.3% to 29.2%, with Pence at 5.2% followed closely by Haley with 5.8%.
Current Democratic President Joe Biden remains underwater, with 51.7% of voters viewing him unfavorably, compared to 42.6% who hold a favorable view, the organization reports.
Another political polling and analysis site, FiveThirtyEight, reported March 27, 2023 that Democrats may slightly favor seeing a matchup between DeSantis and Biden because they really don’t want to have to deal with Trump again, even if DeSantis may have a better shot at beating the president.
“I think most Democrats would be terrified of another Trump presidency, but I also think that most Democrats would not be happy about a DeSantis presidency and maybe think DeSantis is a lot like Trump but ‘more competent’ or something,” Georgetown University government professor Hans Noel told the news outlet at the time. “I don’t know if that’s the right interpretation, but it’s definitely one that a lot of Democrats have.”
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