Less than two weeks before the next Republican presidential debate, a majority of GOP voters are asking: What’s the point?
The right-leaning pollster Rasmussen Reports released a survey on Wednesday that showed 52% of GOP voters believe the Republican National Committee should cancel “all” future debates.
The finding conflicted with other results from the same poll.
Rasmussen found that 55% of all likely voters are likely to watch the Nov. 8 debate in Miami. Within that group were 66% of Republican voters, who indicated they were “at least somewhat likely” to watch the debate.
At the same time, however, 40% of all voters want the GOP to end the debates.
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According to The Washington Examiner, which reported on the Rasmussen poll on Thursday, the consensus is that former President Donald Trump’s lead in public opinion polls seems insurmountable.
Trump leads the field, with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis running second in most polls, by at least 30 points.
Yet the wild card is the outcomes in Trump’s several criminal cases, which will spill over into the voting early next year.
Trump has steadfastly refused to participate in the two initial GOP debates.
Accordingly, DeSantis has accused Trump of running a “basement” campaign similar to Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 bid. The governor also has repeatedly called on Trump to take part in the debates.
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Despite a slight majority of GOP voters indicating the RNC should pull the plug now, and a slightly higher ratio says Trump should be on the stage with the other contenders.
“Despite his confidence of winning without debating,” the Examiner noted, “a majority of Republicans, 55%, would like to see him participate” in the debates.
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