By Tom Ozimek
A new poll shows that 72 percent of likely Republican voters think President Donald Trump should be the role model for the GOP going forward, rather than the average Republican member of Congress.
“As the Republican Party reorganizes itself next year, should it be more like President Trump or more like the average GOP member of Congress?” respondents were asked on Dec. 21 and 22, according to a Rasmussen poll published on Dec. 28.
With a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, 72 percent of Republican voters said “Trump.”
Asked whether Republicans should look for a fresh face to run for president in 2024 or whether they should field a candidate that has already run in the past, 52 percent of likely Republican voters said they would like to see someone new. A similar question was put to voters six years ago, namely whether they thought the GOP needed a fresh face in 2016. At the time, 64 percent opted for new blood, with Trump beating out Republican rivals in the primaries two years later, before going on to win the race for the White House.
The results suggest that there continues to be strong support for Trump among Republicans. Other surveys suggest broader support for his policies.
A Gallup poll several weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 election indicated that a clear majority (56 percent) of all voters declared that they were better off than they were four years ago, suggesting most Americans feel they have benefited from Trump’s policies. These results were higher than in 1984, 1992, 2004, and 2012, when incumbent presidents ran for a second term.
But while the average American household, thanks to Trump’s tax cuts, saved around $1,600 per year, and his economic policies saw record-low unemployment, including among black and Hispanic Americans, a CBS exit poll following the November election found that 76 percent of voters who wanted a “unifying candidate” voted for Democrat Joe Biden.
Yet the fact that Republicans made strong gains in House races and, pending the Georgia runoffs, may hold their majority in the Senate, could mean that many voters repudiated the liberal agenda, and Trump’s “Make America Great Again” platform enjoys popular support.
Meanwhile, a recent Gallup survey shows that Trump is the most admired man in America this year. Eighteen percent of respondents chose Trump as the most admired man of 2020, a year after he tied former President Barack Obama for the honor.
