Never Trump Republicans and Democrats see polls showing Donald Trump running neck-and-neck with Joe Biden despite 91 criminal charges and a slew of civil actions. It has them in panic mode. The Real Clear Politics Average puts Trump up over Biden by over a point with 45.7% to 44.2%, respectively.
The panic can be seen in the myriad of 14th Amendment lawsuits seeking to dump Trump from the ballot over his involvement in inspiring the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Never Trump nemesis Max Boot sounds the alarm in a Washington Post column.
“I fear for America’s future and hence the world’s — more so now than ever. I had relaxed a bit after the last two national elections, which had seemed to signal a return to normalcy. Donald Trump was decisively defeated in 2020 and, in 2022, most of his fellow election deniers also lost in their bids to take over the election machinery of swing states,” Boot writes. “But now we’re back in Crazytown. Trump is the almost certain Republican nominee in 2024.
And, if current polls are to be believed, he has an excellent chance of winning the presidency again — despite his two impeachments, his incitement of an insurrection, and the 91 felony counts he currently faces in four criminal cases.”
Donald Trump: Indictments Fail to Stop Him
Boot noted that he thought Trump would be hurt politically by being indicted; however, his optimism has turned to horror because the indictments have made him even stronger with Republican voters. Since Trump’s first indictment in the Manhattan Stormy Daniels case last April, Trump’s poll numbers have increased by almost 15 points.
Trump stood at about 43% in mid-March and stands at 57% today in the Real Clear Politics Average. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who was hailed as the best hope to derail the Trump Train has cratered from 30% to 14.5%.
Voters see the prosecutions and lawsuits against Trump as politically motivated.
“Even more disturbing, Trump is running neck and neck with President Biden in general-election matchups. That means — given the Republican advantage in the electoral college — that he is probably ahead in the electoral count. Somehow, most voters have decided that Biden is too old for the presidency, but Trump, who is only three years younger and infinitely less cogent, isn’t,” Boot writes.
The major difference between Trump and Biden comes down to appearance. Trump looks vigorous and active at 77; whereas Biden looks frail due to his falls, frequent gaffes, and appearances of being disoriented. People age differently. Trump probably is slower than he was 10 to 20 years ago, but many voters see him as more competent than Biden has turned out to be.
A large percentage of Biden voters in 2020 were protest votes against Trump. Exit polls showed that 44% of Biden voters in 2020 were against Trump and not for Biden. Now with Biden just as unpopular as Trump was when he lost re-election. Polls show that Biden does not inspire key Democratic Party voting blocs such as black Americans raising concern for Democrats. A new NBC News poll found that Biden’s approval among black voters has fallen from 80% to 63% since 2021.
How Do Trump Opponents Stop Him?
“So how do we stop Trump? Biden is a feeble vessel at best, but he’s the only realistic option we have. It’s true that he is 80 years old (and would be 82 at the start of a new term), and he often stumbles rhetorically and sometimes physically. But his successful performance in office belies his doddering image,” Boot writes. “He has managed to pass big, bipartisan bills, including infrastructure legislation that Trump only talked about. He has been even more impressive internationally, assembling a large coalition to oppose Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and another coalition in East Asia to deter China from aggression of its own.”
Boot continues, “In an ideal world, Biden would head off to a well-deserved retirement and a younger, more vigorous successor — someone such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo — would run in his place. The likelihood is that any of those candidates would be stronger than Biden in the general election.”
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.
