While a mere 44% of Republicans want Donald Trump to run for office again in 2024, according to a new survey published Wednesday by the Pew Research Center, nearly 70% of Republicans believe the former president “should remain a major national political figure,” up from 57% in January.
Two-thirds of Republicans say they would like to see former President Donald Trump continue to be a major political figure for many years to come, including 44% who say they would like him to run for president in 2024, a new survey found. https://t.co/ou6JnpK7fP pic.twitter.com/qzVcBmmIHX
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) October 6, 2021
The data from the survey include input from both Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.
Enthusiasm for a Trump-led GOP is most pronounced among Republicans “with some college experience or less,” 72% of whom say Trump should play a large role in the party’s future, compared to only 54% of those “with a college degree or more.”
The survey is good news, perhaps, for other potential GOP powerhouse candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally whose competence in dealing with both COVID and an absurdly antagonistic media has led to a seven-point advantage over former Vice President Mike Pence in a Trump-less primary, according to an Echelon Insights poll released in late September.
Nevertheless, whether he’s on the ticket in 2024 or not, Donald Trump remains the key national figure in the Republican Party, and his endorsement will carry great weight among likely Republican voters in 2024 if he does not run.
According to the Pew poll, about two-thirds of Republicans believe the party should not put forward candidates who are critical of the former president, with only around 10% of Republicans embracing candidates who enthusiastically reject his influence.
Trump has been an active force in both national- and state-level Republican politics since leaving office. He encouraged former NFL star Herschel Walker to run for Senate against Democrat Raphael Warnock in Georgia, and he recently endorsed former television broadcaster Kari Lake in the Republican race for Arizona governor.
In other polling news, a Quinnipiac National University poll, also published Wednesday, found that President Biden’s job approval rating has fallen to 38%.
