AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall
- GOP donors are eyeing Tim Scott's 2024 candidacy after campaign stumbles by both Trump and DeSantis.
- Scott, who announced his bid in May, is lesser-known but has significant room in grow in the race.
- The South Carolina senator has already seen has standing improve in several statewide polls.
In the minds of some Republican voters, presidential candidate Tim Scott in recent weeks has become an increasingly attractive alternative to the current frontrunners, former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.
Scott, who's represented South Carolina in the US Senate since 2013, jumped into the 2024 presidential race in May and remains largely unknown to a substantial swath of Republican primary voters across the country.
But Scott's current position has a clear upside, as potential supporters and prospective GOP donors are giving his campaign a closer look after stumbles by both Trump and DeSantis.
While a sizable bloc of the GOP primary electorate remains behind Trump, the former president over the past year has been indicted by both the Manhattan District Attorney's office and a federal grand jury, and he faces a potential indictment connected to an election interference investigation in Fulton County, Georgia. And DeSantis, who was long seen as the candidate who could essentially go toe-to-toe with Trump in the GOP primaries, has so far remained in a distant second place in most national surveys — and has recently had to shake up his campaign operation.
So Scott's nascent campaign has become a potential alternative to a DeSantis candidacy among some Republicans, according to The New York Times.
Andy Sabin, the chairman of the Sabin Metal Corporation, told The Times that he's shifted his support from DeSantis to Scott and indicated he hoped that more GOP donors would take his lead.
Sabin, who's hosting a fundraiser for affluent donors in the Hamptons in August, expressed frustration with both Trump and DeSantis. The businessman said that prospective donors were eyeing Scott's candidacy and "all want to see what he's about."
"They're disenchanted with Trump and DeSantis," Sabin told The Times. "And the others, I've seen very little momentum."
In the FiveThirtyEight average of national Republican presidential polls, Trump currently sits at 51%, well ahead of the second- and third-place contenders — DeSantis (averaging 18.9% support) and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (averaging 6.4% of GOP primary support).
Scott is currently in seventh-place nationally, with 3.2% support.
In a recent Economist/YouGov poll, Scott (3%) was well behind Trump (49%) and DeSantis (20%), despite being the second-place choice for a sizable number of Trump and DeSantis backers.
But he's rising in several statewide polls, a key indicator of momentum in some of the early-voting states.
In a recent University of New Hampshire survey, Trump led with 37%, followed by DeSantis at 23% and Scott at 8%, with Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota and former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey each earning 6% support.
And a recent Fox Business poll among likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers had Trump at 46% and DeSantis at 16%, with Scott in third place at 11%.