Donald Trump cannot be happy after receiving news that his popularity ratings have dropped in Georgia and Ohio. The 75-year-old former president may not be running the show in the White House anymore, but he’s still doing his best to influence Republican elections where he can, and this news may dent the hopes of his endorsed candidates in these key states!
According to a recent survey from Morning Consult, Trump seems to have a strong favorability rating with Republicans in Georgia (86 percent), North Carolina (87 percent), Ohio (80 percent) and Pennsylvania (77 percent) which still sounds promising; however, some of the numbers have dropped since the last polls in January 2021, where the rating used to be 89 percent in Georgia and 81 percent in Ohio. Interestingly, Trump also saw his unfavorable rating in these states increase by four points in Georgia to 14 percent and by two points in Ohio to 19 percent. Uh oh!
However, it's unlikely that Trump will care about this too much, as his endorsed candidates are still hoping to sweep their respective elections with his backing. And you can understand why, since all 33 of his publicly backed candidates won in the Texas primaries in March, or are overwhelming favorites to win in the runoff. He certainly seems to choose his candidates wisely!
Having said that, those stats were padded out a tad since many of his endorsements were for incumbents (who rarely lose renominations,) and at least seven of those ran unopposed! The real test of Trump’s popularity will be in Georgia, where he is backing former Senator David Perdue, who is taking on incumbent Brian Kemp in the gubernatorial race. According to a recent poll Kemp is in the lead by 11 points (43 to 32 percent) so Perdue has quite a gap to pull back before the Republican primary on May 24th, and in a state where Trump’s popularity has dropped it will be interesting to see if his endorsement can help turn things around.
It’s not all downhill for the former president though as his popularity actually jumped by five percent in Pennsylvania, where he has endorsed celebrity heart surgeon Mehmet Oz in the Republican Senate race. Surveys showed that at the end of March both Oz and contender David McCormick were tied on 14 percent with 51 percent of voters undecided. Dr Oz will surely be hoping the increased support for Trump in Pennsylvania will help swing things his way!
Either way, Trump’s track record of success with his candidates means he’s definitely the guy people want in their corner. "Every candidate should be out there seeking a Trump endorsement, because more often than not, it helps candidates substantially," Republican strategist Gregg Keller, former executive director of the American Conservative Union, told Morning Consult. Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich also commented that an endorsement from the former president is still "the most powerful asset in politics."
