April 24, 2023 02:43 PM UTC

Catch Trump If You Can

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• by: Colorado Pols

A new poll today from NBC News re-affirms the reality many Republicans don’t want to face: former President who had to be pried from office Donald Trump remains the overwhelming favorite of the GOP rank-and-file, and at this point the 2024 Republican nomination for President is Trump’s to lose:

Former President Donald Trump holds 15-point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a new NBC News poll of the race for the Republican presidential nomination — and the two men the only candidates to win double-digit support from GOP primary voters.

The former president leads the field with 46% of Republican primary voters, followed by DeSantis at 31%. Former Vice President Mike Pence sits at 6%, followed by former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who are all tied at 3%. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, the only other politician specifically named to GOP primary voters by the interviewers conducting the poll, is at 2%.

Sitting a mere four points below the decisive 50% mark and way out in front of stumbling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the window is closing faster than opponents want to admit to stop Trump. One of the things that would greatly help Trump’s opponents, of course, would be additional indictments from one of the many pending investigations against him. Unfortunately, the Republican base appears to be hardened enough against negatives about Trump that criminal indictments only boost his popularity–a phenomenon helped by Trump’s opponents and Republican officials lining up to trash the New York DA, just like they spent the last two years trashing the Justice Department in Trump’s defense.

In short, every Republican who told you since 2021 that their party was ready to “move on” from Trump was either lying or clueless. The oft-heralded “Never Trump” wing of the party decisively lost the battle for the Colorado Republican Party in March, and they’re on the cusp of losing the national campaign to Trump in 2024.

Stop telling us this isn’t what Republicans want. It’s not what some Republicans want. Maybe even some Republicans you know and respect.

But they are not the majority.