Warning signs are flashing for President Biden and former President Donald Trump as they get ready for their debate stage showdown next month—both seem to be having trouble securing the support of their base voters.
Even after withdrawing from the Republican presidential primary more than two months ago, zombie candidate Nikki Haley continues to garner significant support in the GOP primary, displacing Trump.
Additionally, Biden is still having to deal with an “uncommitted” vote that keeps coming up to protest the president’s backing of Israel in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
“You going to see most Democrats and most Republicans come home. But there are so many warning signs flashing in these primaries,” said David Kochel, a Republican consultant and veteran of GOP presidential campaigns.
A week following Haley’s 22% victory in the open primary for the GOP presidential nomination in Indiana, which was open to Democrats and independents, Tuesday’s mostly closed Republican contests in Maryland, Nebraska, and West Virginia were expected to present a different picture.
Unofficial results, however, show that Haley received 18% of the vote in Nebraska and 21% in Maryland.
Furthermore, Haley fared best in suburban areas in both states—as she had in previous primaries following her withdrawal from the race for president.
As the first sitting or former president to face trial in a criminal case, it presents another possible challenge for Trump in the general election.
“It might just be that Republicans want one last chance to express their dissatisfaction with the nominee, and they’ll come home,” Kochel, who is staying away from the 2024 GOP nomination race, said.
“But if I’m running the Trump campaign, particularly as I look towards the vice presidential nomination, I would be trying to figure out anyway I could to reassure the Haley voters that we’re going to listen to them and not just run a base only strategy,” he made a suggestion.
Additionally, 10% of Maryland’s votes in the Democratic presidential contest were “uncommitted,” according to incomplete and unofficial tabulations of the results that Biden saw as concerning during Tuesday’s primaries.
This is just one more instance of far-left voters criticizing the president’s Middle East policies.
The presidential debates took place on the eve of Biden’s and his re-election campaign’s proposal, which Trump swiftly accepted, to debate as president in June and early September and as vice president during the summer.
“You don’t want to debate when you’re ahead. You want to avoid debates at all costs,” Penn said in an interview’ “America’s Newsroom.” “Obviously it’s uphill for President Biden, or he wouldn’t be debating in the first place.”
Long-running polls show that many Americans are excited about the rematch between the 81-year-old Democratic incumbent in the White House and his 77-year-old Republican predecessor.
“You’re going to put the most unpopular politicians we’ve ever seen run against each other in front of 80 million people on a debate stage. One of them is famously bombastic, toxic, and loose with the facts. The other one is barely able to get out a sentence. He had six jump cuts in a 13-second video they put out today,” Kochel said as he pointed to Trump and Biden’s video.
Kochel predicted “debates may reinforce to the country how dissatisfied they are with these choices.”