'All washed up': Republican insider says Trump needs to 'move on' because 'he's bleeding support'
Donald Trump kicked off his bid for the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination on Saturday with two speeches before smaller crowds in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and one Republican insider didn't see him turning his slide around with both speeches being a rehash of old complaints.
According to a report from the Guardian's David Smith, both of Trump's speeches were low-key affairs before smaller audiences as the president tries to reboot after his 2024 announcement in November which was "widely derided for its absence of sparkle or swagger."
According to longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz, those two speeches likely have not stopped Trump's slide as he suggested the former president is "all washed up," as Smith put it.
Speaking with the Guardian, Luntz said his polling with GOP voters shows the former president is losing supporters to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and maybe it is time for Trump to step aside.
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“How much Trump has fallen is a big deal and how much DeSantis has gained is a big deal,” Luntz began.
After he added, "DeSantis is so far ahead of where Barack Obama was against Hillary Clinton [in the Democratic primary in 2007] because that’s the closest parallel,” Smith wrote that the pollster, "predicts that DeSantis will be the Republican nominee in 2024."
"I used to think that Trump was the prohibitive favorite but, now that he’s below 50% and the first vote is still a year away, he’s bleeding support," he elaborated. "I talk to Trump people. We did a focus group on him a few weeks ago. They all still appreciate all that he did. They still think he was one of the greatest presidents in American history. But there’s too much drama and too much controversy and they’ve had enough. The conclusion from them is: Mr Trump, thank you for your service, this country is grateful, but it’s time to move on.”
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