OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has refused to participate in the GOP primary debates and it seems to be a winning strategy for him.
After skipping the second debate, which was held in late September and moderated by Fox Business Network, Trump’s lead over the Republican field actually grew again, and by a substantial amount.
“Trump took the support of 50% of respondents in the latest InsiderAdvantage survey. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis placed second with 15% while former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley narrowly trailed him with 14%. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie placed fourth with 5% while tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy earned 3% support,” Just The News reported on Monday.
IA Chairman Matt Towery said: “DeSantis and Haley are the only remaining viable candidates of the current field of candidates. In my opinion the debates are having a diminishing impact on the race. Absent some major unexpected shakeup, it appears Donald Trump is the prohibitive favorite to win the GOP nomination.”
Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum all received 1 percent support.
Just The News noted that the results of the Insider Advantage survey showed Trump surged 5 percent over the previous poll, while DeSantis dropped 3 percent and Haley gained as much. In August, Ramaswamy’s support was at 7 percent, but it fell by half during the latest survey.
A September survey from The Wall Street Journal found that Biden and Trump are in a dead heat. The poll asked: “If the 2024 general election for President were held today and the candidates were Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, for whom would you vote?”
Both received 46 percent, but notably, that is a one-point increase for Trump and a two-point decrease for Biden since April, the WSJ noted.
“The survey also asked respondents who they would choose in a matchup between Trump, Biden, Green Party candidate Cornel West, and Libertarian Lars Mapstead. In that scenario, Trump leads Biden by a single percentage point— 40 percent to 39 percent. Two percent chose West, one percent chose Mapstead, and 17 percent remain undecided,” Breitbart News added, citing the survey.
“As has been consistent in virtually every other survey, Trump leads in the Republican primary race by double digits with 59 percent support. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis falls 46 points behind with 13 percent support. That reflects a massive shift since April, when 24 points separated the two, as Trump saw 48 percent support to the Florida governor’s 24 percent,” the outlet continued.
The survey also found that a supermajority of Democrat voters believe Biden is too old to run again.
“Although the candidates are only three years apart, 73% of voters said they feel Biden is too old to seek a second term, compared with 47% of voters who said the same of the 77-year-old Trump. Two-thirds of Democrats said Biden was too old to run again,” the outlet said.
Meanwhile, a separate survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs found that 75 percent of respondents believe Biden is too old to be president for another term.
A whopping 89 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Democrats agreed with the poll’s findings that Biden is too old to serve as vice president for another four years, according to The Hill.
The AP made the point that Biden’s age is not just viewed negatively by older people. However, about 50% of Americans thought Trump was too old to serve as president. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to think that Trump’s advanced age made him unfit for office.
Polls show that Democrats, Republicans, and independents all support setting age limits for the presidency, the Supreme Court, and Congress.
Biden and Trump appear to be on a collision course for a rematch next year.
