Trump's 'toxic' role in Jan. 6 riot casts pall over his 2024 re-election bid: report
Donald Trump looks to be a lock for the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nomination in the GOP primaries but the road back to the White House is filled with roadblocks, one of which is his part in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Based upon polling and the results of the 2022 midterm election, Trump and Republican candidates who cling to the conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was stolen are getting the cold shoulder from voters who are not in the MAGA camp.
According to a report from Politico's Steven Shepard, Trump's participation in what became a riot at the nation's Capitol has made him "toxic" to a substantial number of likely voters and may not be something he can overcome.
Politico reports, "Democrats and independents still hold starkly negative views of Jan. 6, its participants and Trump’s role in stoking the riot. Majorities of Americans overall still believe now-President Joe Biden was elected legitimately, that Trump is guilty of trying to steal the election and that the federal criminal charges in Washington against Trump are appropriate."
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While polling backs up the premise that the former president has a big cloud hovering over him, the results of the 2022 midterm election provide a glimpse of what the GOP will be facing in November.
"It’s not just a poll-based hypothetical that direct ties to Jan. 6 or broader denial of the 2020 election results are a millstone for Trump and his aligned candidates. Only 14 months ago, voters in the midterms rejected the majority of 2020 election deniers — especially in battleground states — despite a political environment and generic ballot that otherwise favored Republicans," Shepard wrote before concluding, "Trump may have succeeded in moving GOP voters away from their immediate revulsion after Jan. 6, but the broader electorate is less likely to come onboard in November."
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