A poll of Donald Trump voters found the majority would prefer a different, “more presidential” candidate who holds to the outgoing president’s characteristic policy stances.
The numbers: Eric Kaufmann, a politics professor at Birkbeck, University of London, conducted the poll of 400 Trump voters on January 8 and found that 55% wanted “a candidate who is more presidential, respectful and gets things done, while adopting Trump’s views on controlling immigration, nationalism and being willing to challenge the mainstream media, political correctness and elites.”
- By contrast, 29% wanted Trump as their candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
- Kaufmann’s findings add nuance to other recent polling, which found that half or more of Trump voters want the forty-fifth president to run again.
The future of the GOP: The chaotic events of Trump’s final weeks in office have split the Republican party, as some GOP politicians distance themselves from the president while others continue to back his agenda.
- Republicans from the establishment wing of the party, like Sen. Pat Toomey, have criticized colleagues for entertaining claims of election fraud, which culminated in objections to the January 6 congressional certification of the Electoral College vote.
- On the other hand, Trump’s surrogates have vowed to primary Republicans who did not object to the certification.
