Nearly two-thirds of Republican voters said they would likely join a new political party if former president Donald Trump started one, according to a new poll.
The poll said 64% of Republicans said they would support a Trump-formed party like the “MAGA Party” or the “Patriot Party.”
Among that figure, 32% said they would likely join that party, and the other 36% said they would be hesitant to leave the GOP.
Only 15% of Democrats and 28% of independents said they would be inclined to join a Trump-centered party.
Fearing he may run again in 2024, Trump’s political opponents have sought to smear him, even after the conclusion of his presidency.
Democrats quickly cast aside their own exhortations of violence to claim the president was to blame for inciting a Jan. 6 uprising at the US Capitol.
A new impeachment do-over attempt, hastily passed in the House but unlikely to clear the Senate, would aim to ban Trump, 74, from ever again holding federal office.
But, as with the first impeachment, that effort seems to be having little negative impact, perhaps even playing to the ex-president’s advantage.
“These numbers show that despite the Capitol riots Trump remains a political force to be reckoned with,” said Dritan Nesho, CEO and chief pollster at HarrisX.
“He benefits from a diverse base of support making up over a third of voters, voters who are attracted to him on a number of issues that are yet to be properly addressed by, and coopted by, Democratic and Republican elites.”
Nesho said Republicans should be even more worried about a resurgent Trump than Democrats since he would likely relegate the GOP to a handful of “principled” pro-Establishment centrists.
“If Trump were to split from the GOP and create his own party, polling suggests he might well create the second largest political party in the country, knocking the GOP down to third place,” Nesho concluded.
Trump has reportedly floated the idea of starting his own political party amid struggles within the Republican Party.
Speaking with some of his allies, he discussed breaking away from the Republican Party to launch his own, which would be called the “Patriot Party,” the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
Trump is also eyeing supporting primary challenges against Republican officials who he believes wronged him during the 2020 presidential election
Among them are Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the House Republican Conference chairwoman who was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach him last month.
“All of them are vulnerable. Some things stick in politics, and I think this outrageous betrayal will,” Chris Ekstrom, the chair of the Courageous Conservatives political action committee, told Politico. “Examples will be made.”
