A Trump strategist compared Ron DeSantis' candidacy to New Coke, which was released to much fanfare in 1985 but quickly flopped

• Ron DeSantis has sought to paint himself as a conservative without Donald Trump's political baggage.
• But DeSantis remains mired as Trump's distant second-place competitor in most national polls.

When Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida entered the GOP presidential primary, his candidacy was widely seen as the one with the most potential to dethrone former President Donald Trump's frontrunner status.

Three months later, DeSantis is still Trump's most direct competitor, but he's facing a rising threat from Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. And as DeSantis has seen his numbers in early-voting states remain relatively stable in recent weeks, his campaign has sought to reboot his candidacy in an effort to chip away at Trump's longstanding advantage.

While DeSantis has sought to frame his candidacy as that of a conservative warrior who's unyielding in battling it out in defense of the party's values, he's also said that his candidacy would focus on the future and would be free of the political drama that surrounded Trump during his presidency and after he left the Oval Office — which is heightened by the former president's indictments.

But Trump campaign strategist Chris LaCivita has flat-out rejected DeSantis' strategy, remarking that the GOP voters who have favorable views of both the former president and the governor generally go with Trump.

"Those who have an opinion of both overwhelmingly choose Donald Trump. That's where the race is now, and that's where the race will be in January, period, end quote," LaCivita told the Washington Post.

"He's trying to run to the right of Trump or he's trying to be Trump without the baggage — that's not a message," he said of DeSantis. "New Coke fell flat."

In April 1985, Coca-Cola debuted New Coke — a reformulated Coca-Cola that was tweaked to have a smoother and sweeter taste — to much fanfare.

But the newer Coke was a dud among the public. While thousands of taste testers preferred the taste of New Coke to the longstanding soda, they had only consumed the newer version in small amounts. When people consumed the New Coke in larger quantities, there was minimal appeal to its sweeter taste.

By that July, Coca-Cola announced that it would bring back the old Coke formula while also selling the newer product. The introduction of New Coke is widely seen as one the biggest marketing blunders in modern times.

New Coke was renamed as Coke II in 1990 before being discontinued in 2002.

The DeSantis campaign didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.