TRUMP’S LEAD AND GOP DECISION-MAKING. Former President Donald Trump’s support now stands at 59% among Republican voters nationwide in the 2024 presidential nomination race. His lead over Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), still the second-place candidate in the race, is 46.3 points. Both Trump’s support and the size of his lead are the biggest they have ever been.
After four indictments from federal and local prosecutors, plus a widely reported trial in a lawsuit by the New York attorney general — after all of that, Trump’s lead is still inching higher. And that is affecting the thinking and decision-making going on in campaign offices all around the country, as well as on Capitol Hill.
The Republican majority in the House, of course, is still trying to elect a speaker. You don’t have to be reminded that it is not going well. There are now at least nine candidates for the job, and public debate on the race is set to begin on Tuesday. Many critics are pointing out that seven of the nine voted to decertify the results of the 2020 election from Arizona and Pennsylvania on Jan. 6, 2021. That’s not likely to have a big effect on the speaker contest. On that day, 58% of House Republicans voted against certifying the Arizona results, and 66% voted against certifying the Pennsylvania tally.