USA TODAY/Suffolk Univ. poll shows that significant majority of Republican voters no longer back 76-year-old former President Donald Trump. While 31% of respondents say they support Trump, a whopping 61% say that they would prefer another Republican nominee in 2024. Trump announced another run for president Nov. 15, only to find little fanfare cheering his announcement, other than his 25% base that doesn’t have the traction needed to propel him to win a national election. Whatever Trump encountered in 2016 in the way of GOP opposition to his candidacy, he faces far bigger problems this time around, prohibiting him from making a run for the White House. Trump four years in office soured independents and crossover Democrats into jumping on the bandwagon for a second run. Trump no longer has the novelty as an opposition candidate in 2016.
Trump’s legal problems and bad publicity have created intolerable conditions for another presidential run. USA TODAY/Suffolk Univ. poll found that possible voters liked his policies but want a new face in 2024, clearly looking at 44-year-old Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a number of other GOP candidates. Trump’s luster was stripped off after enduring the worst press of any president in modern history. No longer can Trump rally large majority of voters to take on the press, preferring instead to have a new face in 2024. In a hypothetic match-up between 80-year-old President Joe Biden, Trump loses the election again, this time by 47% to 40%. When paired with DeSantis, Biden loses the election by a similar margin. Today’s USA TODAY/Suffolk Univ. poll shows that Trump’s bad publicity related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and Aug. 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago shows that the public has been turned-off.
With Democrats enjoying a 20% registration advantage over Republicans, no GOP candidate can win national office without independents and crossover Democrats. Trump lacks the appeal to independents and crossover Democrats, making a run for the White House in 2024 untenable. Trump’s base has no problem with his widely publicized blunders like hosting anti-Semite Kanye West and Neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Since Trump announced Nov. 15, the press has been relentless covering anything negative for Trump. Trump’s dinner with Kanye and Fuentes meant nothing but the press makes a big deal about anything negative that comes Trump’s way. Trump’s recent comments about recently repatriated 32-year-old Russian prisoner WNBA star Brittney Griner caused more embarrassment to the former president, with most Americans happy that she’s out.
Trump can’t find any national issue to gain any traction comparing himself to Biden. When it comes to political contests, Trump hasn’t distinguished himself from Biden’s economic and foreign policy. When it comes to the Ukraine War, Trump hasn’t come out decisively against the war, because too many Republicans agree with the Biden policy. When Trump rain in 2016, he distinguished himself from other Republican candidates voicing his opposition to the Iraq War. Trump won himself some independents and crossover Democrats by contrasting himself with former President George W. Bush. When it comes to Ukraine, Trump looks like he’s sitting on the fence, not willing to go out on a limb to end the 10-month old war. Biden can’t get along with Russia or China, leaving U.S. national security in the most vulnerable place since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Trump has a perfect opportunity, but won’t take it, voicing strong opposition to Biden’s proxy war against the Russian Federation. GOP support in Congress, like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), for the Ukraine War, makes Trump anti-war stance less tenable. But if he wants to take a calculated gamble, he’s go on record opposing the Ukraine War, largely because it’s trashed decades or U.S. diplomacy with the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. When it comes to the economy, Trump has a perfect rationale for attacking Biden’s leadership, turning an otherwise growing economy into an inflation and recession ridden enterprise. Biden’s biggest vulnerability is clearly the economy and foreign policy. No U.S. citizen can be security with inflation running out-of-control and the U.S. at war with the Kremlin and close to war with China, all because of Biden’s policies.
USA TODAY/Suffolk Univ. poll shows that for Trump to gain any traction he needs to stop making colossal PR blunders and pick an issue that resonates with voters. Many voters would like to see the Ukraine War end, if, for no other reason, it takes billions out of the U.S. Treasury, fueling inflation, without benefiting consumers. Trump’s only hope of regaining some traction in 2024 is opposing in the loudest possible voice Biden’s economy and foreign policy. No American citizen wants to see the U.S. at war with the Kremlin or possible war with China. Biden has done nothing since taking office Jan. 20, 2021 other than provoke Russia and China into the worst relations since WW II. If things continue where they stand today, Biden will have the U.S. in a two-front war with Russian and China, leaving the country in shambles. Trump needs to forcefully oppose Biden’s economic and foreign policy.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s been editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
