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It’s the Republican Party Presidential Rumble!
On Wednesday night, seven men and a woman walked onto a stage and tried really, really hard not to bring up their collective ex — or as the Fox News moderators called him, “the big elephant NOT in the room.” We love it when Republicans try to be funny. When they were not awkwardly waiting to see who would make the first move to mention Donald Trump, Mike Pence made it very clear that he has no plans to separate church and state, Nikki Haley tried to rebrand deficit/war hawk conservatism for the girls, and Ron DeSantis attempted to use his smile muscles for the first time in probably 40 years. Meanwhile, Chris Christie took the stage to publicly beef with Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy simped for Trump while the other candidates bullied him (Vivek, offering to pardon the man is just desperate. He’s just not that into you.), and Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson, and Doug Burgum were also there.
After the debate, Data for Progress followed up with voters for a vibe check. Unsurprisingly, the GOP b-squad did little to win over Independent voters on the debate stage:
- 67% of Independents oppose shutting down the Department of Education
- 58% of Independents oppose sending U.S. military forces into Mexico to fight drug cartels
- 54% of Independents oppose breaking up teachers’ unions
And while Pence claimed during the debate that 70% of people support a 15-week abortion ban, we find that only 37% of voters support such a national ban. Cite your sources, Pence. And Vivek may claim that the “climate change agenda” is a “hoax,” but 51% Republicans said they support addressing climate change.
On that note, we wish you a nice recovery from your post-Republican debate hangover. Drink lots of water and try not to think about Ron’s incredibly creepy smile.
Read the full brief and polling here.
Here are some other highlights from DFP this week:
Indictment season never ends.
Former President and mugshot model, Donald Trump, has been indicted not once, not twice, but four times. That’s four more times than any former president in U.S. history. Hey, at least he’s good at something. The most recent indictment was brought by officials in Georgia for Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state – because, sometimes there are consequences when you try to overthrow democracy.
Data for Progress finds that a majority of likely voters (54%), including 57% of Independents, approve of the grand jury's decision to indict Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. Seventy-five percent of Republicans disapprove of the grand jury’s decision, but that can probably be chalked up to propaganda.
Over the last three indictments, Data for Progress asked voters if they think the charges are appropriate, or if they’re a politically driven attack against Trump. While the results have remained largely constant and divided by partisan affiliation, more than 1 in 3 moderate Republicans approve of the indictment (36%) and think the charges are appropriate to hold Trump accountable (34%). We also find that 43% of voters, including 39% of Independents and 1 in 3 Republicans, don’t think Trump will be a candidate in the 2024 general election. 👀
While Republicans may be on the edge (read: delusional), it’s clear that Democrats and Independents approve of the decision to indict Trump (four times). Now, about those convictions…
Read the full briefs and polling here and here.
Project Twenty-Twenty-Die.
Project 2025 is the Republican passion project to officially launch the United States into its totalitarianism era. The plan for a conservative presidency led by the bros over at the Heritage Foundation involves expanding the president’s authority over every part of the federal government. For people who claim to be ride or die for the original meaning of the constitution, that seems pretty constitutionally questionable to us!
Another incredibly questionable aspect of this plan is the Heritage Foundation’s laughable claim that climate change is “mild and manageable.” In contrast, Data for Progress and Climate Power find that 55% of voters believe that climate change is actually “serious and urgent.” This includes 71% of Black voters and 61% of voters under 45.
Even Republicans voters are pretty wary of Project 2025’s plan to seemingly ignore the realities of climate change. While Project 2025 wants to curtail environmental justice efforts, we find 69% of voters, including more than half (52%) of Republicans, believe the next president should prioritize environmental justice and take action to clean up pollution and improve public health, rather than eliminating environmental justice mandates. We love common-sense solutions.
While Project 2025 may be on a mission to destroy democracy and our planet (go big or go home?), even Republicans think they may be taking things a bit too far. Welcome to the resistance, friends!
Read the full brief and polling here.
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