A GOP strategist on Sunday explained what he thinks is "the single most important factor in ensuring Trump's defeat."
Mike Madrid, who served as the Golden State's GOP political director before co-founding the group of current and former anti-Trump Republicans known as the Lincoln Project, encouraged Nikki Haley to stay in the GOP primary race to weaken the ex-president. The Lincoln project also recently trolled Trump at CPAC using an artificial intelligence ad that mimics his disappointed dad.
Specifically, the activist said that Republican primary voters who vote for a candidate other than Trump "are significantly less likely to return to him in the general."
ALSO READ: Prison president: How Donald Trump could serve from behind bars
"This is where resources should be spent. Everything else is a distraction," he said on Sunday. "GOP defections will be the single largest factor in the November outcome."
He continued:
"In Feb 2020 only 6% of Republican voters were saying they wouldn’t support Trump in the general election. In Feb 2024 we are seeing polling consistently at 3X that. Most/many will go back but it’s far stronger positioning to beat him if there’s a targeted effort to get them."
Madrid also listed challenges that President Joe Biden faces, including "defection of minority voters, depressed base turnout, and third party candidates."
"2 out of 3 of these are mitigated with GOP defections and the third still hurts Trumps chances," according to the strategist.
Conservative lawyer George Conway chimed in on that, saying, "The fact that the number of anti-Trump GOP voters is already so high at this point is actually astonishing, given how far off the radar screen he has been over the past couple of years."
Madrid agreed with Conway's analysis.
"Yes. Moving these voters is the single most important factor in ensuring Trumps defeat," the strategist affirmed.
