DeSantis in SC amid slip in polls. GOP hopeful says Iowa will boost him in other states.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is relying on his popularity in Iowa to outmaneuver his competitors and win the South Carolina primary next year.

Amid homages to veterans, American-born businesses and "DeSantis 2024" merchandise, the presidential candidate's return to the First-in-the-South primary state coincided with a new Winthrop poll that showed his popularity in South Carolina is declining.

A recent Monmouth-Washington Post poll matched the Winthrop poll's findings.

Hailed as a favorite among the Upstate's evangelical base, DeSantis began his campaign as the prime challenger to former President Donald Trump's elephantine grip on the local Republican base.

In recent polls, however, the presidential candidate has struggled to gain traction, leaving space for former SC Gov. Nikki Haley to surge past him in the Palmetto State and New Hampshire, two consequential early-voting states. But DeSantis said he wasn't rattled during his three-stop bus tour across the Upstate Wednesday.

None of the polls were going to matter when the actual voting began, he said. Candidates needed to build infrastructure to do well before the primaries.

"So for example, Iowa will determine how people perceive other things. So we're in great shape. We're going to continue to do it," he continued.

DeSantis has focused a lot of resources on Iowa. A third of DeSantis' campaign staff were relocated to Iowa, the New York Times reported, and the end of the third quarter brought with it a $15 million haul for the campaign.

"This significant fundraising haul not only provides us with the resources we need in the fight for Iowa and beyond, but it also shuts down the doubters who counted out Ron DeSantis for far too long," James Uthmeier, DeSantis' campaign manager said in a press release.

What to know about Ron DeSantis' bus tour of Greenville, Spartanburg

DeSantis' bus tour of Upstate SC took him to American Legion Post 28 in Spartanburg, Revel Event Center in Greenville and Upstate Granite Solutions near Easley.

In South Carolina, DeSantis' supporters discounted any doubts circling his candidacy.

At American Legion Post 28 in Spartanburg, Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, was a leading voice in shoring up support for the presidential candidate, often lauding DeSantis' track record in Florida.

By the time he began his second tenure as governor, DeSantis had passed anti-LGBTQ laws and repealed diversity, equity and inclusion-related policies in schools and colleges. He has also cheerfully advanced his fight against COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

So far, DeSantis has largely remained averse to overtly criticizing Trump, but on Tuesday, it appeared that narrative was shifting.

DeSantis sharpened his attacks on Trump by focusing on the promises the former president did not keep, including the controversial border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

"Anyone that watched 2016 ... (border wall) was the signature promise," DeSantis said, casting himself as the administrator who "gets things done."

DeSantis said his pitch to make Mexico pay for the wall is charging a "fee on remittances that are sent from the United States to Mexico or any of these other countries." He said some of these funds are sent by people who work in the U.S. "illegally."

Some of DeSantis' supporters were buoyed that he took on Trump more directly.

"I like that he's started pushing back stronger against some of the narratives recently. I think that's gonna do a lot of good," said Paul Fleury, a 29-year-old construction estimator, who was in attendance at Revel Event Center.

Though Trump leads the national field by more than 40 points and is beloved by the local GOP base, the voters who are still waiting to endorse a candidate said they were waiting for the shoe drop, and see if the indictments were going to disrupt his candidacy.

Fleury said the Trump of the 2024 campaign is not the same Trump that ran in 2016. For the Greenville County resident, Trump was the best president of his lifetime.

"But in the second half of his presidency, he gave away his control, and I think the mistakes he made — people notice that, people remember that."

Devyani Chhetri covers SC politics for the Greenville News. You can reach her at dchhetri@gannett.com or @ChhetriDevyani on X.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Ron DeSantis in Greenville, Spartanburg SC: Iowa key to his campaign