According to a column from U.S. News and World Report, Donald Trump's star is quickly setting as more and more of his most rabid fans begin to move on and GOP lawmakers are starting to question whether he helps or hinders their election prospects.
Using a combination of current polling numbers -- that show voters increasingly don't want the former president to make a third presidential run -- and comments from GOP campaign consultants, U.S. News writer Susan Milligan suggested Trump is rapidly becoming yesterday's news.
While noting that President Joe Biden's poll numbers are nothing to brag about, Milligan claimed Trump's numbers among some of his most ardent fans are taking a big hit -- even though he is not making any day-to-day policy decision that could affect their lives.
"The numbers are not looking good right now for Donald Trump, whose iron grip over the Republican Party appears to be weakening. And while the former president still has substantial influence with party brass – witnessed by the Republican National Committee censuring two lawmakers participating in the investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection – Trump's power is not what it once was, experts and pollsters say," she wrote.
"No nostalgia for the Trump years is a good way of putting it," admitted Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll, with the report adding that one of his key constituencies seems to be turning on him.
"White male voters without a college degree overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2020, with exit polls showing the Republicans taking that voter group by a 70% to 28% margin. But YouGov's poll found that half of that group see Trump in a favorable light now, with 46% of them disapproving of Trump," the report states before adding, "Further, rank-and-file Republicans are moving away from a more direct identification with Trump himself. An NBC poll found that 56% of GOPers describe themselves as supporters of the Republican Party, with 36% saying they are supporters of Trump. That's a reversal from late 2020, when 54% described themselves as supporters of Trump and 38% supporters of the GOP."
According to one campaign consultant who broke with the Republican Party over Trump, the former president is losing the hearts and minds of GOP lawmakers.
"He doesn't get to speak ex cathedra anymore, where everyone just drops to their knees and believes in him," explained Mac Stipanovich. "He gets booed by his audience. [Florida Republican Gov. Ron] DeSantis did everything but moon him, and he's going to get away with it."
Stipanovich added that the midterm election -- and how Trump-endorsed candidates do -- will be a good indicator of how much power the former president wields.
"If his endorsed candidates just sweep, that strengthens his hand," he stated. "If there's a mixed result in the primaries between Trump-endorsed candidates and the eventual nominee, that will weaken his hand."
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