Former President Donald Trump remains the front-runner for the Republican presidential ticket despite skipping Wednesday’s primary debate, according to a poll commissioned exclusively for The Post.
A post-debate poll of 1,303 people, conducted by Leger and released Thursday, found that 62% of GOP voters want to see the 77-year-old former commander-in-chief emerge as the party’s nominee.
The ruling also came just days after a Manhattan judge on Tuesday found Trump guilty of fraud by exaggerating the value of his wealth — and revoked his New York business license.
The 45th’s lead is undeniable, with support for Florida Governor Ron Desantis a distant second, with only 10% of Republican voters preferring to see the 45-year-old lead the party.
Trump’s support has even jumped 2 points since the first debate — which he also refused to attend, according to polls.
“I kind of had to convince myself that nothing was going to surprise me anymore with this individual, but I just think that there’s a strong segment of the Republican electorate that not much is going to sway them,” Leger Executive Vice President Andrew Enns told The Post.
“I suspect that they feel that there is a lot of political motivation behind the accusations and accusations and so they stick to that version of events and it’s going to be very difficult to shift that.”
Former President Donald Trump remains the frontrunner for the Republican presidential ticket despite skipping Wednesday’s primary debate.REUTERS
In fact, more than a third (37%) of Democratic-leaning voters admit that the firecracker former president will be the candidate facing President Biden in 2024.
When it comes to a Trump vs. President Biden matchup, nearly half (43%) of those polled believe the former president-elect will defeat the now 80-year-old commander-in-chief. Only 32% believe Biden will win while 26% are unsure.
However, if Trump is found guilty or jailed before Election Day, his support will plummet – with only 36% of those polled believing he will win against Biden.
A post-debate poll of 1,303 people, conducted by Leger and released Thursday, found that 62% of GOP voters want to see the 77-year-old former commander-in-chief emerge as the party’s nominee.Getty Images
“I think that gives you a pretty good sense of the bedrock bottom line,” Enns said.
Meanwhile, as the nation nears the primary, support for DeSantis — Trump’s main rival — has wavered — much to the surprise of Enns, who thinks the Florida governor is a stronger participant in the latest debate than the first.
Only 14% of Republican-leaning viewers saw the Sunshine State leader as the winner of the debate, compared to 21% after the first debate last month.
Trump’s once formidable foes are crawling behind entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
More than a quarter (26%) of GOP voters polled believe Ramaswamy won the second primary debate, while 15% believe Haley emerged victorious.
“I think he is [DeSantis] maybe doing a little bit better to be honest, because I think he’s actually a little bit more in the debate … Part of me wonders if there are some more policy issues that he might get himself caught up in,” Enns said.
Amid the frenzy, Ramaswamy emerged as the clear winner for the second debate in a row in the eyes of the GOP audience.Getty Images
The entire debate was “chaotic,” Enns said, with the candidates repeatedly yelling at each other and former New Jersey Gov. Christy awkwardly calling Trump “Donald Duck” for skipping the debate.
Amid the frenzy, Ramaswamy emerged as the clear winner for the second debate in a row in the eyes of the GOP audience.
After the August debate, 23% of self-identified GOP voters said Ramaswamy, 38, won.
“In August it was quite aggressive — kind of touching people’s faces a little bit. And in September, he you’re still quite active but less in your face or aggressive he’s, I would say, more polite,” Enns said.
Ramaswamy’s consistent support could indicate increased confidence from the Trump camp because the former president did not attend the debate, Enns theorized.
“When you speculate a bit further — now if there’s a scenario where Donald Trump doesn’t actually make it to the primary and sort of unseats all those voters, maybe now this gets interesting.”
Overall, 28% of those surveyed watched at least some of the debate live, with 36% of Republicans tuning in — roughly the same ranking as viewers of last month’s event.
The Leger poll, which is weighted by age, gender, region, education, ethnicity, number of people in the household and past voting, has a margin of error of 2.3 percentage points.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
