To be fair, neither may have a chance. The fence sitters won't understand this until someone else besides Trump is nominated.
The fence sitters won't care as long as someone else is nominated.
Try this scenario on: Trump either gets arrested or the primaries are rigged against him, DeSantis wins. Trump haters will see zero issue with this, say it proves no one likes Trump, not that there is cheating.
Then comes Presidential election: DeSantis vs Michelle. Same thing as 2020, red states call for DeSantis by midnight, swing states all take days to count. Same as before, votes keep being 'discovered' in the middle of the night, and they always break for Michelle.
A week later, Michelle is declared winner. BUT.....here's the kicker......she has MORE votes than Hiden did and DeSantis has MORE votes than Trump AND the margin of victory is only 5M votes.
So Trump haters will see that DeSantis DID BETTER THAN TRUMP DID, and that's all they will care about.
There will be ZERO discussion of fraud and cheating. Except among Trump supporters. Michelle and DeSantis supporters will happily accept results and move on.
DeSantis will take a long vacation, then in 2026 he will run for and win one of Florida's senate spots. He will then go to vote with the RINOs and no one will think to question.