Why Donald Trump is winning the primary race again within the Republican Party

2023-08-13 15:01:00, Blog John Feehery

Why Donald Trump is winning the primary race again within the Republican Party

Former US President Donald Trump

For those who want the Republican Party to move in a different direction, last Sunday's New York Times poll was not a little depressing. Donald Trump is once again winning the Republican Party primary for next year's presidential nomination, and it seems unlikely that anyone will beat him.

Here's how the Times itself summed up its poll: "Mr. Trump had a clear decisive advantage in almost every demographic group and region, and in every ideological wing of the party, the poll found, while Republican voters ignored concerns about the risks to him as a result of numerous lawsuits.

He led the poll with wide margins between men and women, younger and older voters, moderates and conservatives, those with university and non-university degrees, from cities, suburbs and rural areas." But why is Trump so easily winning the primary race within his own party? Here are the 4 main reasons.

He has done this before

This is the third campaign of Donald Trump for president of the USA. There really is no substitute for such an experience. And Republican voters usually reward someone who has run before. Richard Nixon entered the White House after his second run for president.

Ronald Reagan ran against incumbent Gerald Ford in 1976, before voters rewarded him in the 1980 election. George H.W. Bush lost the 1980 primary but won the 1988 one, and the structure of the campaign he built helped his son win the 2000 presidential election.

The late Senator John McCain ran twice, being nominated the second time. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney was named as the official candidate after his second run. The only recent candidate to win on his first try was Trump, but he was running against rivals who were novices like himself.

He is the most famous

It takes a lot of time and money to become famous enough to be worthy of being elected president. Of course, everyone knew Donald Trump because of his starring role in the well-known TV show "The Apprentice", and it helped him a lot in the 2016 election.

The name is usually a pretty good predictor of a person's electoral success. It has been observed many times that voters like to vote for someone they have heard of before. And everyone has heard of Donald Trump. No one else in the field can come close to the notoriety of Trump's name.

Those who regularly follow politics have all heard of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Tim Scott, former Vice President Mike Pence and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. But if you've ever done one of those Jay Leno street interviews, I believe only a few of the interviewees could tell who Trump's VP was.

It is dominating the new media news cycle

Because Trump is so famous, the mainstream news media is fascinated with everything he does, says or is accused of. How can a challenger to Trump become as famous if the news only covers what Trump says and does? There is no way any candidate will gain any traction in the current media environment.

The only way an opponent within the Republican Party can get in the media is by attacking Trump. But most Republican voters don't like hearing attacks on the former president from other Republicans. They see this as a breach of party loyalty. So many of these challengers are forced to defend Trump even as the Justice Department, Joe Biden and his allies sue the president on clearly partisan charges.

He had a very good record as president

What helps Donald Trump the most in this new race is his record as president in the White House. Of course, his White House was a mess from within, and his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic was disastrous.

But he was very successful when it came to peace and development. At the time of his presidency the American economy was strong, every racial and ethnic group had employment at record levels. America was self-sufficient in terms of energy needs, jobs and capital were brought back to the country because of his tax reform bill.

In the international sphere, Russia had no reason to invade Ukraine, North Korea suspended its nuclear program, and there were several peace agreements in the Middle East. Of course, not everything was perfect, and January 6, 2021 was a terrible day for the American nation.

For most Republican voters, however, the former president did a very good job of securing his re-election to office. Or at least that's what the polls conducted so far suggest.

Note: John Feehery, partner in the EFB Advocacy consulting company. Previously, he was the spokesman for the former speaker of the American Congress, Denis Hastert, and the director of communications for the former speaker of the majority in the House of Representatives, Tom Delai. / " The Hill " - Translated and adapted by CNA