Donald Trump keeps lead in poll ahead of first debate: The former president may not be participating in this week’s debate, but he’s still got a huge lead in the Morning Consult poll
Donald Trump Won’t Debate
Donald Trump made it official over the weekend: He will not be participating in the first presidential debate later this week, and he might skip further ones as well.
Instead, Trump will be interviewed on the night of the debate by Tucker Carlson, opposite the debate hosted by Fox News, the network that fired Carlson earlier this year.
Nine candidates will be on stage in Milwaukee Wednesday night after they met the RNC’s criteria to qualify: Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, former gov. Chris Christie, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and businessman Perry Johnson. Miami Mayor Frances Suarez did not qualify, although he claimed at one point that he had. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and talk show host Larry Elder are among those who did not qualify.
“The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had, with Energy Independence, Strong Borders & Military, Biggest EVER Tax & Regulation Cuts, No Inflation, Strongest Economy in History, & much more,” Trump said on Truth Social Sunday. “I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!”
That followed the release of a CBS poll that had him in the lead. And another poll, which arrived Monday, also showed the former president with a comfortable lead in the Republican primaries.
According to the weekly Morning Consult poll, released Monday, Trump leads the Republican contest with 58 percent support, followed by DeSantis with 14 percent and Ramaswamy with 10 percent. Pence has 6 percent support, followed by Haley, Scott, and Christie with 3 percent each. Hutchinson has 1 percent while Burgum is listed at zero.
“The former president is beating DeSantis by 44 percentage points among potential Republican primary voters (58% to 14%) ahead of the first GOP presidential debate, marking one of the Florida governor’s lowest levels of support since we began tracking the race in December,” the Morning Consult release said.
DeSantis remains ahead of Ramaswamy in the Morning Consult, even as some polls ache shown Ramaswamy moving into second place, although the businessman’s net favorability rating has exceeded that of the Florida governor.
The poll also found that just 17 percent of potential primary voters in the GOP and 7 percent of his supporters agree that Trump should not participate in debates.
And in potential head-to-head matchups, President Biden leads Trump 43-41, while the president leads DeSantis 43-37, although there are plenty of “someone else” and “don’t know” answers in both matchups.
But there’s another recent poll involving Trump that might be even more instructive about his dominance in the Republican race.
A new CBS/YouGov poll shows just how much voters who plan to vote for Trump support their candidate. When Trump voters were given a number of choices for who they lost “feel what they tell you is true,” the top answer was “Trump,” with 71 percent. This beat out “friends and family” (63 percent), “conservative media figures” (56 percent), and “religious leaders” (42 percent.)
This is a sign that nothing — whether indictments, or news reports of his wrongdoing, or even the word of their friends and family — will get those voters to abandon their support of the former president. The problem is, Trump supporters don’t comprise enough of the electorate to form a majority or anything close to one.
In addition, per Axios, “the percentage of those who consider Trump a source of truth drops to 53% among all likely GOP primary voters, in a sign that some remain skeptical of his claims.” Axios also cited other polls showing that majorities of voters believe Trump is guilty of at least some of the charges he faces, which now number more than 90 counts after four indictments.
Author Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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