Donald Trump’s legal woes do not seem to be slowing him down. And it looks like Trump, at this point, can’t be stopped on his way to the GOP nomination. Or can something change?
Trump faces 91 counts in four cases that will consume his time during the Republican primary season next year. Despite these unprecedented hurdles, his lead in the polls over his nearest GOP rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is 46 points.
A Wall Street Journal poll shows Donald Trump leading that pack with the support of 59% of those surveyed. Support for DeSantis has cratered to 13%; however, 35% said he would be their second choice for president.
Nikki Haley Gets Post-Debate Bump
Everyone else is stuck in the single digits. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley appears to be enjoying a slight bump from the GOP debate coming in third with 8% saying she was their first choice and 12% saying she would be their second choice. Vivek Ramaswamy came in with 5% saying he was their first choice and 16% saying he would be their second choice.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has boasted that Trump fears he would beat him, came in with 3% calling him their first or second choice.
“The most notable figure in the primary poll results is DeSantis’s support, which has plummeted since he began teasing a presidential campaign earlier this year. The Florida governor attempted to jump-start his campaign with new staff and a revitalized message last month, but those changes have not resulted in the polling bumps his supporters would have hoped for,” Hill columnist Nick Robertson writes.
Support for Donald Trump Softens Slightly
Trump, however, fell about three percentage points since the GOP debate according to the Real Clear Politics Average. On August 21, Trump stood at 55.9% support; however, as of September 2 that had dropped to 53.6%.
The drop also was recorded by FiveThirtyEight, which had Trump at 54.3% on August 20 and at 51.4% on September 2.
Trump and Biden are running even for their likely rematch next year. Trump had 40% compared with 39% for Biden. The polling shows just how weak Joe Biden is.
Republicans view the criminal charges against Trump as political. Sixty percent think that is the case according to the new poll, and 78% of Republicans said they believe that Trump’s actions were legal.
“When we talk about how twisted and bent reality has become, that’s a really good example of it, because if, in fact, this were any other time and place, this race would not be happening this way,” said Fabrizio, who also works for a super PAC supporting Trump’s candidacy.
Democrats Call Alarm on Biden’s Weakness
Democratic pollsters Doug Schoen and Carly Cooperman are calling an alarm on Biden’s weakness. Trump is not doing as well as Biden is doing terribly.
“It’s a question that hasn’t been dealt with in any great detail but which deserves a great deal of attention. Our polling shows that the race continues to be close not purely because of the strength of Trump’s candidacy but, rather, because of Biden’s weaknesses,” Schoen and Cooperman write. “Indeed, our polling shows that on virtually every issue tested, a plurality or outright majority disapprove of Biden’s performance. This includes issues that are most important to voters: inflation (-41), jobs & the economy (-6), immigration (-21), gun violence (-19), crime (-17), and healthcare (-11).”
They continued, “With an overall job approval at just 44% and a favorability rating at a similar 46%, per SCR polling, as well as a RealClearPolitics average rating on the economy below 40%, Biden is deeply vulnerable, notwithstanding Trump’s mounting problems.”
John Rossomando is a defense and counterterrorism analyst and served as Senior Analyst for Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism for eight years. His work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, The National Interest, National Review Online, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award for his reporting.
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