Too soon to tell. Very often, very early frontrunners and hopefuls never make it to the WH, while others come out of nowhere and win. Even just 1 year is a lifetime in politics. One scandal can change everything, one crisis can catapult someone else into the a group of frontrunners. Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Gary Hart, Howard Dean, Edmund Muskie are just a handful of contenders who looked promising but then failed badly.
Predicting how DeSantis would do if he ever runs 4 prez is pure speculation. My gut feeling is the 2024 GOP nominee will be someone we either don't or barely know, or someone we never thought would be there. No matter what happens in 2024. Especially if Trump loses, the 2024 GOP nominee is hardly predictable. Sure, it could be DeSantis, but he may not even make it into the year 2024 he announced his candidacy in spring 2023.
This is the correct answer. I think he's bounced back from his early Rona fumbles (and even they didn't hit his popularity that much) and he has plenty of time once this is over to do other things. His resume alone would still almost naturally make him a contender, but I do raise a question mark about your implication that he's the early frontrunner. He's thought of as a candidate, sure, but most of the early speculation seems to be about Pence and Haley.
