While former President Donald Trump continues to insist that he will probably run for president once again in 2024, a new poll shows that 6 in 10 Republicans aren’t exactly enamored with the idea of Trump being the nominee three years from now.
The poll, from Echelon Insights, asked the following question:
Which of the following would you prefer to see in the 2024 Republican presidential primary? I’d like to see…
1. Donald Trump running unopposed 30%
2. Donald Trump running and other major candidates running too 39%
3. Donald Trump not running 22%
4. Unsure 9%
That’s 61 percent of those who say they lean Republican admitting they either want to see a wide-open GOP presidential primary or for Trump to not run at all in the next presidential election. Clearly, many Republicans are not excited about a second helping of the Donald.
Also of interest is the dramatic gender gap the Echelon poll uncovered, with Republican-leaning women saying by a margin of 36 percent to 24 percent saying they don’t want Trump to run unopposed. That’s an extremely high number for an ex-president who is supposedly in control of his own party and suggests there’s significant fracturing among rank and file GOP voters.
Another bad signal for Trump for the poll can be found in the fact that a mere 40 percent of Republicans surveyed saying they would “definitely” vote for Trump in a primary, leaving plenty of room for a primary challenger to upset the former president’s bid for a glidepath to a second nomination.
Who might those primary opponents be? According to the poll, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had the highest numbers, with former Vice President Mike Pence in second place:
- Ron DeSantis 22%
- Mike Pence 15%
- Donald Trump, Jr 9%
- Ted Cruz 9%
- Nikki Haley 6%
As for the issues of interest for voters, the coronavirus pandemic is the top concern followed by jobs and the economy, immigration, and healthcare. Considering how poorly Trump and many Republican governors have handled the COVID outbreak and that the U.S. economy was in a deep recession when Trump left office, the GOP will have a tough time running on those issues.
Of course, it’s a long way until 2024 and much could happen between now and then. But at the moment, it sounds like the majority of Republicans aren’t exactly thrilled about Donald Trump redux.
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