(PartiallyPolitics.com) – Florida Governor DeSantis will need to tone down his hard-right tone when addressing an array of cultural issues in order to win support in New Hampshire. The Florida governor has become particularly well known for his hardline conservative policies, however, with the launch of his presidential bid last week, he is now going to need to be strategic about how he approaches certain issues in order to win more support than his primary opponent, former President Donald Trump.
New Hampshire will be particularly challenging as it is a state with libertarian-leaning Republicans with quite a sizable number of independent voters which could be critical in the 2024 presidential race. As Jill Merrill, a veteran Republican consultant in New Hampshire pointed out, people in the state are culturally “less conservative, “while being more fiscally conservative. He proceeded to argue that there is also not a large pro-life community in the state.
This means that all candidates will need to strategically examine the best way to appeal to the undeclared voters and not just the base Republican activists.
DeSantis, who is currently on his first tour as a presidential candidate, visited the state on Thursday. During his appearances in the state, he did not place any attention to the abortion ban he recently passed, while at the same time, praising the state for not having a personal income tax.
This approach appears to align with Dante Scala, a professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire, who pointed out that within the state abortion issues tend to be decisive for the Republicans and energizing for the Democrats.
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