Roughly six in 10 Republicans responding to a new poll believe that former President Donald Trump should be their party’s presidential nominee in 2024.
The poll, conducted by USA Today/Ipsos, found that 59% of Republicans want Trump as their nominee in 2024, compared to 41% who want someone else representing the party.
Conversely, 44% of Democrat respondents say President Joe Biden “deserves reelection,” while 56% said it’s “time for a change” regarding who represents them in 2024.
“Republican voters in this poll tell us they clearly want a fighter in 2024, and they see Trump as their champion,” Ipsos President Cliff Young said, according to USA Today. “On the other hand, Democrats want someone who is both a fighter and a unifier. Right now, Biden falls short on meeting these two dueling ideals.”
At one point, the poll asked Republicans to list “positive traits” of Trump: 90% said Trump’s willingness to use all tools at his disposal was a positive, 87% said he fights for his constituents and 86% said he fights against woke politics and cancel culture.
When Democrats were asked to list “important traits” of Biden: 92% said he had significant experience in government, 86% said he had “major policy knowledge and expertise,” 85% believe he is “focused” on bringing the country together,and 83% said he fights for his constituents.
“In some ways, I think he’s doing the best he can with the mess that Trump left behind,” said Aaron Shissler, a 36-year-old left-leaning independent voter from Pocatello, Idaho. “But in other ways, I just don’t think he does enough. I think he takes a lot of half-measures.”
While some Democrats believe Biden is doing the best he can, some Republicans want a leader with a strong sense of conviction.
Survey respondent Chris Hastings, an 80-year-old conservative retiree from Hoover, Alabama, said he wants a candidate who is “strong enough to fight the media,” a quality he sees in Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
For Republican respondents, 82% believe Trump will win the next presidential election, while only “three in five Democratic voters believe [Biden] can win the next presidential election.”
Talina Tantall, a 54-year-old stay-at-home mom and Democrat from Buckley, Michigan, hopes the two parties can come together and stop dividing the country to consolidate votes for their own side.
“I would hope,” she said, “in this day and age that [Republicans] would come together as a party with the Democrats. I keep saying this to all my friends and family: These people, I feel like they forgot who they’re working for: ‘We the people, by the people, for the people.’ And I feel like that’s been lost somewhere.”
The poll surveyed 2,345 respondents and was conducted from Aug. 18 to Aug. 22. The margin of error was 4.2%.