President Trump’s re-election bid appears to be in good shape, with more than 6-in-10 Republicans urging potential competitors like Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake or Ohio Gov. John Kasich to stay away.
According to a new survey, 61 percent said they don’t want a primary challenge to the president. Some 37 percent said they did want a contested primary.
By comparison, said the Pew Research Center poll, as former President Barack Obama prepared his re-election bid following the 2010 midterm congressional elections, 58 percent of Democrats said they did not want a challenger while 38 percent said they did.
Driving Trump’s popularity with base Republicans is his handling of the economy, trade, taxes, and immigration. Among the 12 issues Pew polled, Trump leads all among Republicans.
Despite the general Republican satisfaction with Trump, there were big differences among gender and age groups. Pew sized it up this way:
Two-thirds of GOP men (67%) say they would not like a Republican candidate to challenge Trump for their party’s nomination. In contrast, 53% of Republican women say they would not like a GOP candidate to challenge Trump, while 43% say they would like another GOP candidate to challenge Trump in 2020.
And while a majority of conservative Republicans (71%) say they would not like a candidate to challenge Trump, far fewer moderate and liberal Republicans (45%) say the same.
