Ron DeSantis lost a ping-pong match in Utah, and maybe the state along with it

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

70% : After Trump won the Republican nomination, several prominent Utahns, Herbert among them, came around and endorsed Trump.
58% : Trump netted only 14%, finishing behind Ohio Gov. John Kasich for third place.
49% : This time, she faces a smaller field -- the race for the GOP nomination has narrowed to her and Trump.
47% : By most measures, Haley seems to be an attractive candidate for Utah Republicans: she preaches fiscal responsibility, she's moderate and she has staked out a sharp position against Trump.
44% : But Haley does not have the luxury of time DeSantis had; Super Tuesday is only a month away, and she trails Trump in every red state with available polling.
41% : But now, a month before Utahn Republicans will vote on Super Tuesday, new polls show Trump near 50% in Utah, far ahead of Haley or any other challenger.
34% : "Utah Republicans rejecting Trump was not a new phenomenon.
34% : In nearby Nevada, the state GOP is hosting a party-run caucus, where Trump will run unopposed, and they are penalizing other candidates (like Haley) who participate in the state-run primary.
29% : "He tried to be Trump without the scandals," said Kirk Jowers, former director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics and an adviser or counsel to five previous presidential campaigns.
28% : Around that time, a majority of Utah's GOP county chairs told the Deseret News they'd like to see DeSantis over Trump.
25% : According to several attendees, there was a sense of urgency at the summit, underlying another key reason for the gathering: To find a Republican candidate who can beat Donald Trump.
25% : Critics have accused the state party of trying to rig the election for Trump.
24% : Trump fared worse in Utah than in other red states in both 2016 and 2020, and his support among Utah Republicans cratered during the early years of the Biden administration.
24% : In November, Trump won Utah, though he fared worse in the general election than any Republican since 1992.
23% : In early 2016, a host of prominent Utahns spoke out against Trump.
22% : Members of Haley's leadership team have mixed views as to whether the caucus format will make it more difficult for Haley to surpass Trump.
20% : Come 2020, even after Herbert, Lee, Chaffetz and others had endorsed him, Trump netted less than 60% of Utah's vote, and President Joe Biden outperformed any Democrat presidential candidate in the state since 1964.
16% : At the state's caucuses on Super Tuesday, Utah Republicans overwhelmingly rejected Trump, choosing Sen. Ted Cruz with nearly 70% of the vote.
9% : Mitt Romney called Trump a "phony" and "a fraud" in a speech at the University of Utah.
9% : But the leaked "Access Hollywood" tape -- in which Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women -- led to public disavowals from Herbert, Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Jason Chaffetz and others.

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