Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, seeking to shift his run for president into the next gear after an early series of missteps, spent the final two weeks rolling out an immigration coverage and holding city halls with voters. But somewhat than correcting course, he stumbled once more this week, elevating questions on the place his marketing campaign is heading.

First, Mr. DeSantis’s group was compelled to battle allegations, including from fellow Republicans, that it had shared a homophobic video on social media. Then, a prime spokesman for the primary tremendous PAC supporting Mr. DeSantis acknowledged that former President Donald J. Trump was the race’s “runaway front-runner,” whereas Mr. DeSantis confronted an “uphill battle.”

“Right now in national polling we are way behind, I’ll be the first to admit that,” the adviser, Steve Cortes, mentioned in a livestream Twitter occasion on Sunday. It was an admission notably at odds with the arrogance that the governor’s advisers often challenge in public.

To prime it off — in a visible illustration of his latest troubles — Mr. DeSantis bought soaked by a rainstorm as he marched in an Independence Day parade alongside a number of dozen supporters in New Hampshire — the essential early nominating state the place his tremendous PAC, Never Back Down, stopped running television advertisements in mid-May.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump hosted a rally in South Carolina that attracted 1000’s of individuals over the vacation weekend, a reminder of his enduring reputation with Republicans regardless of dropping in 2020 and now going through at the least two felony trials.

The race remains to be in its early days, however Mr. DeSantis’s tough week highlights the challenges his underdog marketing campaign faces because it seeks a coherent technique to interrupt by means of in opposition to Mr. Trump.

So far, Mr. DeSantis has tried to undermine his chief rival by subtly contrasting their ages, temperaments and data on points just like the coronavirus pandemic with out saying something too unkind concerning the former president, whom he nearly by no means mentions by title. He has additionally tried to maneuver to the correct of Mr. Trump on points like abortion and L.G.B.T.Q. rights, similtaneously he argues that he’s the Republican candidate greatest positioned to draw swing voters and defeat President Biden.

But Mr. DeSantis, who has not proven that he’s a pure campaigner, has did not take off within the polls, and his fastidiously choreographed public occasions have provided few headline-generating moments, as his marketing campaign, until recently, has labored to protect him from doubtlessly awkward unscripted interactions with voters and the news media.

The wobbly launch of his presidential marketing campaign makes for a stark distinction with the assured manner Mr. DeSantis has ruled Florida, the place he silenced opposition inside his personal get together and crushed Democrats on the polls in the course of the midterm elections. It additionally has given hope to different major candidates, a number of of whom have jumped into the race in latest weeks, that they will change him because the get together’s most believable different to Mr. Trump.

“DeSantis’s argument is electability,” mentioned Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist who holds common focus teams with G.O.P. voters. “But he is undermining the electability argument by running to Trump’s right. He is alienating college-educated, suburban voters who want to move past Trump,” in addition to the independents he would wish to beat Mr. Biden in a common election.

Ms. Longwell mentioned Mr. DeSantis’s efforts to distinguish himself from Mr. Trump with out instantly criticizing him risked leaving the Florida governor with out a pure constituency within the primaries.

“You cannot go around Trump,” she mentioned. “You have to go through him.”

National polls present Mr. DeSantis trailing Mr. Trump by roughly 30 factors — a spot that has widened considerably since Mr. DeSantis started touring the nation this spring to introduce himself to voters.

Yet Mr. DeSantis stays the main challenger to the previous president. He has proven fund-raising prowess, and Never Back Down is coaching an army of field organizers in early voting states. And within the canine days of summer season, earlier than a major debate scheduled for August has even taken place, it’s far too early to foretell how Iowans and New Hampshirites will vote subsequent yr.

Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for the DeSantis marketing campaign, mentioned in an e mail that Mr. DeSantis had been “underestimated” in each race he has gained.

“This campaign is a marathon, not a sprint; we will be victorious,” Mr. Griffin wrote.

Mr. DeSantis has rolled out his marketing campaign in deliberate phases, first with a sequence of speeches to introduce the candidate to audiences in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, then a spherical of city halls the place Mr. DeSantis took questions instantly from voters, and now gradual bulletins of in-depth coverage proposals, starting with immigration.

His marketing campaign says it has targeted its spending on area operations somewhat than on tv promoting, a technique that won’t produce fast polling bumps however will, his advisers argue, repay when it comes time to vote.

There are precedents for Mr. DeSantis’s gradual technique. At this level within the 2016 cycle, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas was polling at below 10 % in Iowa. But Mr. Cruz then went on to win the state, thanks partially to a well-drilled get-out-the-vote operation that Never Back Down is looking for to emulate. Mr. DeSantis’s marketing campaign has thus far closely targeted on successful Iowa, the place polls final month showed him trailing Mr. Trump by roughly 20 factors.

Mr. Cortes, the spokesman for Never Back Down, mentioned his feedback concerning the difficulties of operating in opposition to Mr. Trump, first reported by Politico, have been merely an acknowledgment of actuality. But he added that he believed Mr. DeSantis may win.

“Taking on an incumbent or former president in the primary always represents a significant challenge,” Mr. Cortes, who labored on Mr. Trump’s campaigns in 2016 and 2020, mentioned in an e mail. “I gladly embraced that reality in joining the team. All of us on Team DeSantis remain convinced that the governor has a strong path to the nomination, and the best chance of any Republican to defeat Biden in the general election.”

Mr. Trump, a gifted showman, is infamous for vacuuming up media protection and a focus, sucking away the oxygen from his rivals and attempting to stifle their campaigns earlier than they develop into bigger threats.

Mr. DeSantis has additionally develop into referred to as a provocateur, efficiently drawing criticism from liberals and utilizing it to gin up help from his base. But a latest try that appeared devised to garner such consideration — a video that condemned Mr. Trump for expressing help for L.G.B.T.Q. folks — appeared to backfire over the weekend, resulting in criticism not solely from Democrats but in addition from different Republicans, together with the biggest group representing homosexual, lesbian and transgender conservatives.

The video, taken from one other Twitter consumer and reposted by Mr. DeSantis’s rapid-response marketing campaign account, relied closely on obscure conservative memes.

Richard Barry, a former New Hampshire state lawmaker who attended a wet Fourth of July breakfast visited by a number of presidential candidates, mentioned he was desirous to help somebody aside from Mr. Trump. But Mr. DeSantis has turned him off, he mentioned, citing a criticism some voters have leveled in opposition to Mr. Trump — an indication that Mr. DeSantis isn’t but differentiating himself from the previous president in a significant manner.

“He has a street kid attitude that says, ‘It is my way or the highway,’” Mr. Barry mentioned of Mr. DeSantis. “He doesn’t listen to people.”

Jazmine Ulloa contributed reporting from Merrimack, N.H., Jonathan Swan contributed reporting from Washington and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting from New York.