Republican lawmakers believe voters are leaning away from former President Donald Trump as their candidate in 2024 due to low confidence in his electability.
Several high-profile Trump-endorsed candidates — such as Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, Blake Masters and Kari Lake in Arizona, and Herschel Walker in Georgia — lost their races and cost the GOP key seats in the Senate, especially.
To one Republican senator, who remained anonymous in an interview with the Hill, he believes GOP voters are “tired of losing.”
“If Trump was winning or if we were winning Senate seats or got a big majority in the House or got the majority in the Senate, many people would judge former President Trump differently,” the senator said.
REPUBLICAN FEARS GROW THAT ‘ANTI-TRUMP’ WAR COULD ‘GUARANTEE BIDEN’S REELECTION’
He said that in conversations with constituents, they tell him it is “time to move on,” especially when looking at what transpired in Georgia.
Trump’s decline in favorability could also highlight how independent and moderate GOP voters may be shifting away from those on the right of the party.
“We win general elections when we bring independents with us. We need more than simply the loyal base that understands conservative principles,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said, per the Hill. “That’s the reason why you’re seeing the polls suggest that we have a number of individuals who would get more votes [than Trump] in the general election, and so that’s going to drive the determination who we bring as our candidate.”
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) said Trump is seeing a decline in support due to his continued claims that the election was stolen from him in 2020.
“I don’t think it was helpful when the issues he was focusing on after he announced [his 2024 presidential campaign] related to the 2020 election. I think if he’s going to succeed, he has to focus on the future. I think if he focuses on the past, he won’t succeed,” she said.
“I do believe that people are over the 2020 election, and they want to move on.”
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GOP voters are eyeing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a 2024 hopeful. Trump is trailing DeSantis in a hypothetical matchup, 52% to 38%, according to a Wall Street Journal poll.
Several Republican lawmakers have not been quiet about their feelings toward Trump, but some worry that a split within the party over Trump could be a guaranteed win for the Democrats in both the Senate and White House in 2024.
Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) told reporters last week that Republicans need to appeal to at least “50% plus one of the electorate” and communicate to the people.
“Don’t get caught appealing to a narrow segment of the electorate, which is something we have a tendency to do from time to time,” Young said.
