Sunny Hostin slammed Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) on Wednesday, claiming it was unwise for him to announce a presidential bid with someone “unpopular” like Elon Musk — only to get fact-checked on air by her own producer before she could even finish the sentence.
Hostin, who has repeatedly attacked DeSantis throughout his tenure as governor, said during Wednesday’s broadcast of “The View” that his decision to announce his 2024 bid alongside Musk would miss the mark. She went on to claim that Musk’s approval ratings were “in the toilet” — and then reacted in shock when she learned that the Twitter owner was actually more “favorable” than either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump.
WATCH:
The View’s Sunny Hostin on Elon Musk: “I don’t know what his approval rating is, but it’s, like, in the toilet — oh, I’m sorry, I was just told that he’s more favorable than Biden and Trump, which scares me.”
(deleted previous tweet claiming she was referencing DeSantis) pic.twitter.com/vSGTYH02gA
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 24, 2023
Hostin began by attacking DeSantis’ decision to announce his 2024 presidential bid via Twitter during an event with the platform owner, saying that only 20% of Americans were even on Twitter — and of those, only a percentage were the loud ones driving the conversation.
“You’re hearing from such a small group of people,” she said. “And the you compare a Twitter announcement with Elon Musk, who — I don’t know what his approval rating is, but it’s like in the toilet …”
Hostin paused and the audience laughed, but then the host’s facial expression changed as she apparently listened to her earpiece. “He’s — ah — I was just told he’s more favorable than Biden and Trump, which — scares me. But, ah, so it’s 47%, When you compare that to Joe Biden’s video, that — when he announced, which was, ‘I’m here to save the soul of the nation,’ I think so many people felt that and related to it.”
The poll Hostin’s producer likely referenced was conducted by The Harris Poll and HarrisX from May 17-18, 2023, and it found that Musk had a 47% favorable rating and a 33% unfavorable rating (net rating +14). In that same poll, Trump received a 46% favorable rating and a 47% unfavorable rating (net rating -1); DeSantis received a 45% favorable rating and a 37% unfavorable rating (net rating +8); and Biden received a 42% favorable rating and a 52% unfavorable rating (net rating -10).
According to FiveThirtyEight, seven of eight recent polls show DeSantis with a positive favorability rating. In comparison, Joe Biden comes up negative in five out of five recent polls on favorability. Trump comes up negative in six of eight recent favorability polls and breaks even on the other two.
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DeSantis is expected to make his official entry into the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday, joining a growing primary field that includes the former president, Senator Tim Scott, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and Vivek Ramaswamy.
