Just 44% of Republicans want Trump as the 2024 nominee. Given his huge built in name recognition and no clear GOP alternatives having emerged, this is devastating for him. It means 56% of republicans are already saying “we know Trump is damaged goods, give us anyone but him.”
Of course they want someone who’s LIKE Trump, but they don’t want Trump. Conservatives always want some new fresh faced windbag without the baggage to tell them the same old convenient right wing lies, and Trump is now on the wrong side of that.
This is a correct assessment. Ideally, far more than 44% of Republicans want Trump to be President again. But they also know that this is a forlorn hope. Trump has never won a majority, or even a plurality of the votes. His popularity has not strengthened since then. The denial of his election defeat, the January 6 assault on Congress, has not increased his popularity. They know Republicans are doomed if he is the 2024 nominee. And that he likely will be.
He will breeze through the Republican primaries. He will be soundly defeated in November 2024. And he will make another fresh set of accusations about the 2024 stolen election, which will do the Republicans no good. They can see the train wreck coming, but can do nothing to avoid it. The only thing that can prevent this is if Trump is convicted of major crimes.
So, yes, they would like Trump to win in 2024. But they know that cannot happen. So, their best hope is to have a different candidate who will be another Trump, but without the baggage. Someone like Florida governor Ron DeSantis. His mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic in his state is not important. So long as he is perceived as supporting Trump’s white supremacy drive, they will support him regardless, if he can somehow win the Republican nomination.
