The GOP debates last weekend
left strong indications of the top
three candidates and the impact
of Trump’s legal problems on his
campaign.
With the GOP debates being last week-
end, everyone is scrambling to predict
who will lead the Republican prima-
ries. Let’s take a look at the current top
three rated candidates, and the impact of
Trump’s March 4 trial on his position in
the GOP primaries.
3. Nikki Haley
While the intent of these debates is
not really to win the argumentation, the
former South Carolina governor was the
most pronounced winner of the debate.
15% of debate watchers said she won it.
More than one-third who said she won
hadn’t previously considered voting for
her, which is more of a voter base boost
than received by Ron DeSantis or Vivek
Ramaswamy. This suggests her perfor-
mance was the most effective at expand-
ing her potential base of support than any
other candidate, as does her jump from
fourth-ranked to third. The post-debate
polling also suggests Haley tapped spe-
cifically into the Trump skeptics in the
party but didn’t alienate Trump loyalists
either the way Hutchinson, Christie, and
Pence have.
2. Ron DeSantis
The Florida governor continues to be
the focus of stories detailing his strug-
gling campaign effort. The latest involves
leaked audio of what’s been referred to as
a desperate plea for $50 million from the
chief strategist for his super PAC. “I’ve
already lost once to Trump, and we can’t
do it again,” said the strategist, Jeff Roe,
who also ran the campaign of Senator Ted
Cruz in 2016. Despite this, he remains in
second place in the national polls at about
15%. This position has been stagnating for
about the last month though, and is a far
cry from his near neck-and-neck polling
with Trump back in February. DeSantis
seems to be in desperate need of a bounce
back in polling to once again make his po-
sition in the primaries seem viable.
1. Donald Trump
In the midst of indictments and mug-
shots, the former president remains north
of 50% in the national polling average.
His position is more or less where he has
been since his indictments started back
in March. The Journal poll places him at
59%. The big news last week that his trial
over federal election-related charges will
be held on March 4, the day before Super
Tuesday, has not seemed to interfere with
his approval. Trump has responded with
cries of election interference. According
to a new Wall Street Journal poll, Trump
has nearly doubled his lead over DeSantis
with Republican voters in recent months.
When asked about Trump’s indictments,
more than 60% of GOP voters said each
indictment was politically motivated and
without merit. It seems that Trump has re-
mained untouchable in the polls, and will
likely remain popular no matter what le-
gal issues might plague him.
