Senate Republicans claim that despite ongoing legal challenges, former President Donald Trump’s support within the Republican Party caucus is growing, making it increasingly likely that he will be their nominee in the 2024 election.
Trump’s lead over his closest competitor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has doubled in polling since his indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on March 30th, they noted.
“I just think that his nomination is inevitable. I really do. He’s going to be the nominee. I’d be stunned if he’s not,” one Republican senator anonymously told The Hill.
What’s more, a growing number of GOP politicians are openly supporting Trump again, including that of Steve Daines (R-MT), who serves as the Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. GOP strategists and Republican senators view Daines’s endorsement as a sign that Trump is the leading candidate to secure the party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
“You’ve seen the numbers. I’ve talked to voters. People are beginning to recognize that. Steve Daines’s endorsement reflects that reality. He’s going to be the nominee, we want him to work with us,” the anonymous senator explained to The Hill.
A second anonymous Republican senator, who has remained neutral in the primary race, confirmed that Trump is the clear frontrunner in the upcoming 2024 election.
“I assume Trump will be the candidate,” the senator said before adding that Daines sought to endorse Trump early to improve the chances of collaborating with him to flip the Senate.
Trump has received 11 endorsements from Republican senators, while DeSantis, who has not yet announced his candidacy for the presidency, has not garnered significant support from the Senate.
They are:
- Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee)
- Mike Braun (Indiana)
- Ted Budd (North Carolina)
- Steve Daines (Montana)
- Lindsey Graham (South Carolina)
- Bill Hagerty (Tennessee)
- Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi)
- Markwayne Mullin (Oklahoma)
- Eric Schmitt (Missouri)
- Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)
- J.D. Vance (Ohio)
That could change, of course, if DeSantis does declare his candidacy this month as expected and he begins to publicly elaborate on his policies.
“Not only is Donald Trump doing well in the primary and he’s the clear frontrunner in the primary, he’s also beating Joe Biden in the general election, 47 to 43,” said Jim McLaughlin, Trump’s pollster, discussing his firm’s surveys on a hypothetical rematch of the 2020 election.
“Our polling never had [Trump] ahead in the general in either 2016 or 2020,” he clarified. “A lot of folks don’t understand – it’s pretty amazing, people who are supposed to be smart – why Donald Trump is as popular as he is, especially amongst the base. The reason is because he had a successful presidency. [Voters] agreed with him on the issues,” McLaughlin said, according to The Hill.