New York Times Misreads Polling to DeSantis’s Detriment

“Ron DeSantis Is Young, Has Little Kids and Wants America to Know It,” reads a headline from the New York Times. In the story, Nicholas Nehamas and Ruth Igielnik write:

One of the few candidates with kids still at home, Mr. DeSantis regularly highlights his parental worries about schools and popular culture as he presses his right-wing social agenda.

When he signed the state budget on Thursday, he joked that a tax break on one of parenthood’s most staggering expenses — diapers — had come too late for his family, though not by much.

“I came home, and my wife’s like, ‘Why didn’t you do that in 2019 when our kids were still in diapers?’” Mr. DeSantis said.

The evident goal is to draw a stark contrast with his main rivals, President Biden, 80, and former President Donald J. Trump, who just turned 77, both grandfathers who have sons (Hunter and Don Jr.) older than Mr. DeSantis. Voters have expressed concern about the age and fitness of both men, especially Mr. Biden.

The piece details a man who is aware of the power of a family that looks like what most Americans imagine their families to be — young and beautiful