There are just 12 days left until the American primaries, when Iowa will vote for the Republican presidential candidate on January 15th. Former President Donald Trump has steadily increased his lead in national opinion polls in recent weeks and has received widespread support from Republican senators.
In a poll commissioned by the Economist and conducted by research firm YouGov and released Wednesday, 63% of Republicans support Donald Trump, three percentage points higher than in the poll two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, support for Trump’s main opponents has fallen in the latest poll. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ support fell three percentage points to 14%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s support dropped two percentage points to just 8%.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is supported by 5% of Republicans, while former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Trump critic, is supported by just 1% of Republicans.
The survey also found that Donald Trump is performing better in general election polls against Democratic President Joe Biden than Haley and DeSantis. If Trump and Biden’s support were tied in the poll, in the event that Haley or DeSantis were the Republicans’ official presidential nominee, Biden would be leading the poll against them.
Five Republican senators also expressed support for Donald Trump in December, and a total of 18 senators publicly support him as a presidential candidate, Politico reports. Republicans hold 49 seats in the U.S. Senate.
No senator has so far expressed support for DeSantis and Haley.
Even so far, independent senators such as Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have confirmed that they will support the winner of the Republican primaries. As of now, however, Trump would be the winner, so the former president could garner even more support from top Republicans in the coming months.
Enjoying great support, Trump is in no hurry to change his low-profile campaign. He gave relatively few speeches in Iowa and New Hampshire compared to other candidates. Thus, DeSantis visited all 99 Iowa counties during his campaign, and Ramaswamy visited each Iowa county twice. Yet this has not brought them success in the polls.
“Why would he do something like a test? It would jeopardize the fruits of his strategy and his labor. He is growing and strengthening his support,” thinks Jeff Timmer, an adviser to the Lincoln Project and an anti-Trump Republican. tank, he told Politico.
An example of Trump’s measured approach to primaries is his consistent refusal to participate in campaign debates. Even as Trump’s rivals hoped voters would turn against the former president due to his absence from the debates, his support continued to grow. At the same time, the number of viewers of the debates has only decreased.
Trump will not even take part in the CNN debate, which will take place on January 10 in Iowa. Although campaign representatives for DeSantis and Haley have argued that Trump is hiding from the debate and is afraid to debate his opponents, Trump has not changed his mind.
Instead of participating in the debate, Trump will take part in a live interview on Fox News during which voters will be able to ask him questions, the channel announced Tuesday.
The frontrunner in the Republican primary has no plans to take part in the December 21 debate in New Hampshire. New Hampshire voters will vote in the Republican and Democratic primaries on January 23.
In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump himself said he would only participate in the debates if the competition was more balanced and some candidate was hot on his heels.
“I would argue with a Republican like that, yes. But that’s not even the case,” Trump was quoted as saying by Politico.
2024-01-03 18:48:00
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