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At a Sunday luncheon following the annual Red Cross ball in Palm Beach, Florida, a group of 16 prominent Republicans, described by one attendee as a mix of DeSantis backers and Trump "skeptics," discussed misgivings about the governor's standing for the future if he tussles with the former president.

"They liked him " many of them might even support him," the person who was at the event said of DeSantis. "But they thought on balance that his long-term future was better without him trying to take Trump head on."

"He will get scarred up" by Trump, the person added.

Then there's conservative billionaire shipping goods magnate Richard Uihlein and his wife, Elizabeth, whose $500,000 in combined contributions ranked them among the most generous donors to DeSantis' 2022 re-election campaign.

A person familiar with the strategy around Uihlein's spending said that right now, "The brakes are pumped," adding, "The polling really made different people pause."