An overwhelming majority of Americans do not wish Donald Trump to make a third run for the White House in 2024, according to new polling data.
The poll, carried out by the Associated Press with NORC at the University of Chicago between April 13-17, found that while 70 percent of people do not wish Trump to run, only 55 percent of Republicans would like to see him run for re-election.
“Views of possible 2024 presidential candidates are highly partisan,” the pollsters noted. “Among Democrats, 81% say they have a favorable opinion of Joe Biden. Among Republicans, 68% have a favorable view of Trump, 63% have a favorable view of Ron DeSantis, and 53% have a favorable view of former Vice President Mike Pence. About half the public is unfamiliar with Nikki Haley, and there is even less knowledge about Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson, or Vivek Ramaswamy.”
Despite the overwhelmingly negative view of Trump’s candidacy among the country at large, the former president remains the absolute frontrunner in the race for the Republican nomination. According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, Trump currently has an average 31 point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has yet to launch his campaign.
Meanwhile, the survey also collected data on Americans’ views on Trump’s recent legal issues. However, there is greater concern about his alleged interference in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election than his recent indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The pollsters explained:
About half of the public believe former President Donald Trump has done something illegal regarding his alleged interference in Georgia’s vote count during the 2020 presidential election. And another 12% feel his actions were unethical, but not illegal. In the New York case for which he has been indicted for allegedly attempting to cover up hush money payments made to a woman who had claimed to have had an affair with him, the public is more closely divided about whether his actions were illegal (41%) or legal but unethical (33%).
Democrats are more likely to describe Trump’s actions as illegal compared to Republicans with regard to the alleged interference in the Georgia vote count and the hush money payments, as well as his role in the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and the discovery of classified documents at his Florida home.
However, most Americans still consider his prosecution to be politically motivated; and many have expressed concern that it may undermine the country’s democracy:
Most adults say the indictment of Trump in the New York case is justified, yet most also regard his prosecution as politically motivated. Views on both issues are strongly connected to partisanship.
The public is closely divided when it comes to what the indictment of Trump says about the nation’s democratic system. Twenty-nine percent view the indictment as a signal that the county’s democratic systems are work well; 34% that they are working poorly. Again, there are strong partisan differences.
Polling data for a hypothetical Trump-Biden rematch remains unclear, with Trump holding a modest 1.3 average polling lead over the current president. However, this may be a sign that he is the clear favorite, given that Biden led Trump by sizeable margins in the run-up to the 2020 election—only to win some swing states by under a percentage point.
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