It certainly seems like Donald Trump is in the doghouse. He’s been blamed for the GOP’s midterm underperformance. He dined with anti-Semites. His business was found guilty of fraud. His tax returns were finally made public. He mostly putters around the resort in which he now lives. But a new poll suggests that Republican voters, at least, are still into him.
According to a new Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll first given to The Hill, Republican voters were asked who they’d like to vote for in the 2024 presidential election. The top dog wasn’t Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and Trump clone. It was Trump himself, who nabbed a whopping 48% of prospective voters.
DeSantis came in second, but it wasn’t even close. He only grabbed 28%, although that’s three percentage points higher than he got last month.
What’s more, Trump got more percentage points than any other prospective GOP candidate combined. Mike Pence came in third with a mere 7%. At least that’s better than Ted Cruz and Nikki Haley, who each only nabbed 3%.
No doubt this is good news for Trump, who really needs a win. But he shouldn’t pop the champagne just yet. Mark Penn, co-director of the poll, argued that Trump has likely maxed out his potential for growth, having attracted all the voters he’s going to get. Besides, the Republican National Convention of 2023 is still a good year and a half away — plenty of time for GOP voters to fall even more in love with a guy known for his queerphobic and racially questionable policies.
(Via The Hill)