Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump’s leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, announced on Sunday that he is dropping out of the race and will support the former Republican president, Reuters reported.

DeSantis’ relatively early retirement underscores the former president’s influence on the party.

DeSantis was seen as the 2024 Republican front-runner and Trump’s natural successor because of his combative style and deeply conservative views. In early 2023, he was leading Trump in several polls.

But the Florida governor’s support has been falling for months because of a flawed campaign strategy, an apparent lack of connection with voters and the fact that Trump now has a large part of the party’s stalwart base.

Donald Trump won the Republican primary in the state of Iowa on Monday evening just half an hour after the start of voting, cementing his status as the big favorite of the right in the presidential elections in November, writes AFP.

Nikki Haley, Last of the Mohicans

The end of DeSantis’ candidacy means former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is now the last Republican in the race to have a chance (albeit slim) of denying Trump the nomination.

The winner of the Republican race will face President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the November general election.

DeSantis’ mistakes

More than 70 percent of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Trump, according to most opinion polls. That put DeSantis in a position where he had to appeal to voters who still admire Trump as well as those who strongly dislike him.

DeSantis was defeated on both counts. He was never able to successfully convince the majority of Trump’s supporters why he was the best choice, while Republicans who wanted to ditch the former president split their votes between several candidates.

In particular, Haley has become a favorite among moderate Republicans. When DeSantis disagreed with Trump on policy, he almost always took a more conservative stance.

In April, he signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida that he eventually passed on the campaign trail, though it raised concerns among some donors and moderate Republicans.

DeSantis opposed additional US military aid to Ukraine and took punitive measures against the Walt Disney Co. after the company spoke out against Florida legislation that restricted the discussion of gender and sexuality in classrooms.

Pro-business critics in the party argued that there was no need to fight Disney.

Although many major donors supported DeSantis early on, they began to back away over the summer.

Key events of the 2024 US presidential election

• – January 15: Iowa Republicans hold an internal election to nominate a statewide candidate, a process known as a caucus, the first of the 2024 election cycle. Caucuses are private meetings held at the district, county or district level where the participants are divided. into groups based on the candidate they support, determining the number of delegates each candidate receives.

Democrats in Iowa are individually choosing their nominee exclusively through mail-in ballots and will announce the results on Super Tuesday, March 5.

• – January 18: ABC News and WMUR-TV cover the Republican primary in Manchester, New Hampshire. The top three candidates from the Iowa caucuses will be invited to run, along with any other candidate who reaches the 10% threshold in the polls.
• – January 21: CNN covers the Republican presidential debate in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Qualification will depend on achieving at least 10% of the survey results, as well as other criteria.
• – January 23: This is the date set by New Hampshire for the first national primary, a contest organized by local and state governments in which participants cast secret ballots for their chosen candidate.

The Democratic National Committee had wanted the state to hold its first election on Feb. 6 after South Carolina, which was slated to be first on the Democratic calendar in 2024. But New Hampshire Democrats said they wanted to keep the tradition of being first, prompting the Biden campaign to announce in October that his name would not be on the ballot in that state.

• – January 31: The Federal Election Commission ends the year 2023. Deadline for candidates to report money raised and spent.
• – February 3: Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina.
• – February 6: Democratic primaries in Nevada.
• – February 6: Nikki Haley files to run in the Nevada primary, two days before the state’s Republican caucuses.
• – February 8: Republican caucuses in Nevada.
• – February 24: Republican primary in South Carolina.
• – February 27: Democrats and Republicans vote in Michigan’s Democratic-controlled state’s primary against Republicans. Instead, Republicans will choose a majority of their delegates at the caucuses in March.
• – March 2: Michigan Republicans elect a majority of delegates during the party’s caucuses.
• – March 5: Known as Super Tuesday, this is the most important day of the primary and often helps narrow the field of candidates. Both parties hold elections in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. Utah Democrats will also vote in the primary election, while Republicans are holding statewide caucuses. Alaska Republicans vote in the primary election.
• – March 12: Primary elections are held in the states of Georgia, Mississippi and Washington. Republicans are holding caucuses in Hawaii.
• – March 19: Primary elections are held in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio.
• – June 4: The last states to hold their presidential primaries are scheduled for this day. Some states have not yet set dates for their primaries or caucuses.
• – July 15-18: Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the party officially chooses its nominee.
• – August 19-22: Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where the party officially chooses its candidate.
• – September 16: The date set by the Commission on Presidential Debates for the first presidential debate. It will be held at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.
• – September 25: The date is set for the only vice presidential debate to be held at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
• – October 1: The date for the second presidential debate to be held at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia is set.
• – October 9: The date is set for the third and final presidential debate to be held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• – November 5: Election Day

– Later in November: It may take several days to know the results of the election, especially if it is close and if voting by mail is a big factor.

Inauguration of the newly elected president only in January 2025

• – January 6: The vice president presides over the Electoral College vote count during a joint session of Congress, announces the results, and announces who has been elected.

Ahead of the January 6, 2021 vote count, former President Trump criticized his Vice President, Mike Pence, for refusing to block Congress from confirming Biden’s victory. Protesters stormed the US Capitol that day, some chanting “hang Mike Pence,” in an attempt to stop the count. Later, both houses of Congress resumed their activities and certified Biden’s victory.

Congress has since passed the Voter Counting Reform Act of 2022, which requires the approval of a fifth of the House and Senate to hear appeals of state results — a much higher floor than existed before, when any lawmaker from each chamber could call for an appeal.

• – January 20: the investiture of the election winner and his vice president takes place. During this ceremony, the winner is officially sworn in and takes office.

What do public opinion polls say?

According to a December 2023 Wall-Street Journal poll cited by The Guardian, Trump would have received 47% of the vote, while Biden would have received only 43%. According to the same poll, Biden has the lowest approval rating of his entire presidency, which has been confirmed by other polls.

In a poll published on November 19 by the NBC station and cited by the EFE and Agerpres agencies, Biden received 44% of the intention to vote, and Trump – 46%.