The 2024 Republican presidential primary's first debate offers a chance for candidates to chip away at Trump's big edge, even as he looks poised to skip it.
The first debate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary offers a chance for candidates to try to chip away at former President Donald Trump’s big advantage in their race, even as the frontrunner himself looks poised to skip Wednesday night’s clash.
Many Republican voters have agreed with his take on his legal troubles and rallied around Trump in the past few months, leaving him with 54.7% support in primary polls, according to a RealClearPolitics moving average of surveys as of Friday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a distant second with 14.8% support, followed by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 6.9%, former Vice President Mike Pence at 5.4% and former ambassador Nikki Haley at 3.6%, with other candidates polling under 3%.
“It does not seem that this is a traditional cycle in a presidential primary. It seems like we’re late in the game, trying to determine if it’s a foregone conclusion that the Republicans have their nominee and therefore there’s really no chance for any of these folks,” said McKinney, a professor of political communication at the University of Akron and dean of the university’s Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences.
“We’ve seen instances where Donald Trump makes the assessment that he’s not willing to put himself in situations where he doesn’t control or he can’t call the shots. He will find ways to pull the attention and have the spotlight on him,” McKinney said.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
How Georgia's Republican governor broke with Trump — and thrivedThe complicated relationship has been on full display this week after Trump was indicted in Georgia for seeking to overturn the 2020 election.
Read more »
Fox News Preps for First Republican Debate, With or Without TrumpThe front-runner has hinted he won’t attend the Aug. 23 event in Milwaukee, but moderators Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier are ready should he change his mind.
Read more »
DeSantis allies urge him to defend Trump at Republican debatePresidential candidate Ron DeSantis should defend former President Donald Trump at the first Republican primary debate on Wednesday and go on the attack against campaign rival Vivek Ramaswamy, the main outside spending group supporting his candidacy wrote in a series of memos.
Read more »
Donald Trump fights back against 'witch hunt' indictments in GeorgiaAccording to new polls, the criminal charges against Trump are helping him among Republican voters.
Read more »
Top Republican slams DeSantis debate strategy, predicting Trump will ‘steamroll the field’Top Republican leaders and key Trump allies are hitting out against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) after his debate prep notes were published online, criticizing the presidential candidate for committing malpractice ahead of the first high-stakes GOP debate next week.
Read more »