He’s definitely not going to have broad support, but he’s going to run on transphobia as his single issue and generate waves that might stick.
It’s already starting to work with religious conservatives. I also have a family member who’s a young Catholic parent from a standard liberal part of the family that’s started liking DeSantis because he’s incredibly uninformed outside his church and Joe Rogan. He’s convinced that “Transgenderists” are trying to groom and harm his children and when asked how he’d treat his kids if they did come out to him he described abuse. And this guy wasn’t like this 3 years ago, this is all new.
So something is definitely happening, but I’m hoping that it’s not going to become widespread.