Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chances of winning the GOP nomination from former President Donald Trump have plummeted, thanks to his obsession with the word “woke.” In fact, evidence has shown he’s made the word “woke” pretty popular these days, thanks to his crusade to eliminate it.

It’s hard to believe from November 2022 to January 2023, DeSantis was just 14 percentage points behind Trump in eight surveys I analyzed from RealClearPolitics, with several polls showing him with a few points of the front-runner. In June, Trump’s lead ballooned to 33.25 points in all eight May surveys I looked at.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in Georgia. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His Twitter account is @JohnTures2.