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Recent polling shows that former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley is catching up to her opponents Vivek Ramaswamy and Mike Pence.
Polling combined from RealClearPolitics shows Ms Haley is polling at 6 per cent as of 1 September– a jump from 3.9 per cent on 25 August. This put her right behind Mr Ramaswamy.
Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump is still leading his Republican rivals in Georgia – despite being indicted in Fulton County over his efforts to overturn his election loss in the state.
The poll, conducted by The Wall Street Journal, found that 59 per cent of 600 surveyed GOP voters would still consider Mr Trump their first choice.
While Mr Trump is beating out Florida governor Ron DeSantis in polling, about 35 per cent of Republican voters consider Mr DeSantis a second choice
The survey also found that Mr Trump is polling nearly dead-even with President Joe Biden among voters, hinting at the possibility of a 2020 election rematch.
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WSJ poll finds 59 per cent of voters consider Trump a first choice
A new poll from The Wall Street Journal found that of 600 GOP voters who were surveyed, nearly 60 per cent of them consider Donald Trump to be their first choice.
The poll found that 59 per cent thought of the ex-president as their first choice, despite the numerous indictments Mr Trump is facing in several states and federally.
Interestingly, only seven per cent considered the ex-president a second choice.
Ariana Baio4 September 2023 17:40
31 per cent of Georgia GOP primary voters say Trump charges ‘not serious at all’
The AJC poll also asked the likely GOP primary voters how serious they believed the indictment to be.
In total, 27 per cent said they found the charges “very serious,” 23 per cent said they found them “somewhat serious,” while a whopping 31 per cent found them “not serious at all”.
Kelly Rissman29 August 2023 22:00
Half of Georgia Republicans say Trump is strongest candidate to defeat Biden
Half of Georgia Republicans polled said that Mr Trump is “definitely” the strongest candidate to defeat President Joe Biden in the next election.
Mr Trump faces 13 charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Last week, he was formally arrested and had his mug shot taken, making him the first current or former president to ever be captured in a booking photo.
On Monday, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows took the historic step of testifying in criminal court for the first time about the allegations laid out in the sprawling indictment as he seeks to have the case moved to federal court.
Mr Trump and his co-defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on 6 September.
Kelly Rissman29 August 2023 19:00
New poll shows Trump leads GOP rivals in Georgia despite election interference indictment
The poll, conducted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, asked 807 likely Republican primary voters in the state who they would vote for in the presidential primary.
Mr Trump earned 57 per cent of the vote, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trailed behind the former president with 15 per cent.
The next highest share went to undecided voters who made up 14 per cent, while other GOP candidates – including former vice president Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, and Francis Suarez – didn’t even break out of the single digits.
According to the AJC, when asking the likely GOP primary voters who they would support in a race between Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis, the former president still held a 33-point lead over the Florida governor.
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Kelly Rissman29 August 2023 16:12
Trump slumps while Pence and DeSantis get surprising poll boost after first GOP debate
Support for former president Donald Trump among Republican primary voters dipped slightly after the ex-president skipped out on the first debate among GOP presidential hopefuls last week, according to a new poll from Emerson College.
The survey, which was conducted from 25 to 26 August, found just 50 per cent of GOP primary voters expressing an intention to vote for Mr Trump. That’s a six-point drop from a similar Emerson survey conducted before last week’s Milwaukee, Wisconsin debate.
But multiple candidates who participated in the face-off saw gains in the same survey compared with the drop in support for Mr Trump.
Ex-Trump administration UN Ambassador Nikki Haley saw a five-point boost in her polling, from 2 per cent to 5 per cent post-debate.
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Andrew Feinberg29 August 2023 13:00
Susan Grant, a 66-year-old retired office manager for a nonprofit physician membership association from Westfield, Indiana, said she sees Mr Biden as “very weak” and doesn’t agree with his policies. Mr Trump, meanwhile, is “extremely divisive, and I think that’s bad for our country.”
“There’s this whole thing, in the Bible, ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand,’ and all of the division that has just been promoted and pushed is just damaging to our country,” Ms Grant said. “I’m very conservative with values, with economic things. But, personally, I don’t think Trump’s a very good person.”
Ms Grant described herself as a “hold your nose” Trump voter twice before. If he’s the GOP nominee against Mr Biden, she said, “I probably would do it a third time. But I would not be happy.”
“I’m also wondering if it’s what we need for a third party,” Ms Grant said. “Maybe it’s the push. I don’t know.”
Will Weissert, Emily Swanson, Darlene Superville, AP29 August 2023 08:00
For Mr Trump, meanwhile, the top comments among Republicans include the generally positive (15 per cent) along with things like “strong” (11 per cent) and mentions of America or patriotism (8 per cent), along with mentions of the presidency or leadership (6 per cent).
Even some Republicans use negative words to describe Mr Trump, though, including labels such as “loudmouth” or “angry” (7 per cent). Others mentioned arrogance or pompousness (6 per cent), narcissism (5 per cent) or other generally negative comments (6 per cent).
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to cite corruption (25 per cent to 4 per cent) and dishonesty (12 per cent to 4 per cent) to describe Mr Trump. Seven per cent of Democrats mention racism, bigotry, homophobia or misogyny among their top words to describe the former president. Those words were hardly invoked by any Republicans in the poll.
Will Weissert, Emily Swanson, Darlene Superville, AP29 August 2023 06:00
Annie Doerr, a 60-year-old retiree from suburban Atlanta who described herself as a moderate Republican, said of Mr Trump, “I thought some of his policies were good for Americans, but he’s just too much of a distraction.”
Ms Doerr had problems with the president, too, comparing him to what she had seen while caring for her 95-year-old father.
“He reminded me a lot of Biden, just things that come out of (Biden’s) mouth,” Ms Doerr said.
“I just don’t think he’s fit to be president for four more years,” she added. ”He may have been when he first ran, but not now.”
The poll also illustrated familiar ideological divides. It found that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to use words like “slow” and “confused” to describe Mr Biden, 25 per cent to 7 per cent, as well as words like “corrupt” and “crooked” (14 per cent to 0 per cent) and “weak” or “unqualified” (9 per cent to 2 per cent).
Will Weissert, Emily Swanson, Darlene Superville, AP29 August 2023 04:00
Mr Haith blamed Mr Biden’s economic policies for his cash net worth declining at least about $150,000 and said the president “just needs to retire and get on with it.”
Though he had some kind words for Mr Trump, Mr Haith was also critical of the former president.
“I really like what he did, and I like the decisions that he made,” said Mr Haith, who added that, at first, ”I really liked that gruffness about him.” But those feelings have cooled, he said, in part because Mr Trump has what Mr Haith described as “a typical New York, arrogant attitude.”
“I’m not going to support him anymore,” he said. “I’m done with him.”
Will Weissert, Emily Swanson, Darlene Superville, AP29 August 2023 02:00
Mr Biden’s reelection campaign said the president’s age is not a top motivator for voters, especially compared to the administration’s policy accomplishments or key issues like abortion. It also noted that perceptions of the president and Democrats were not strong before last year’s midterms — only to have the party defy expectations.
A Trump campaign spokesman did not answer messages seeking comment, but the former president has previously used his indictments to go on the political offensive, telling supporters at rallies, “I’m being indicted for you.”
Larry Haith, a 73-year-old Idahoan and retired president and general manager of an auto parts firm, is a Republican who described Mr Biden for the poll as an “idiot” and called Mr Trump “arrogant.” He said he doesn’t plan on voting for either next year.
Will Weissert, Emily Swanson, Darlene Superville, AP29 August 2023 00:00