New poll shows that three-quarters of Republican voters want to end presidential debates and instead have the entire party rally behind former President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
According to the survey conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, 76 percent of the respondents agreed with the sentiment that the debates should end, and of those, 56 percent “strongly” agree,” and 19 percent “somewhat” agree.
Only 16 percent disagree with the notion, and among those, 11 percent “strongly” disagree and five percent “somewhat” disagree. Eight percent, meanwhile, do not know or have refused to answer.
OUCH.
— Brad Porcellato (@BradPorcellato) November 2, 2023
Do you agree? Is it time to end the primary debates? https://t.co/rFbWL5Y4QP pic.twitter.com/5hAc3VT0fp
The survey was taken between October 19 and 24, weeks ahead of the third scheduled Republican primary debate, which is set to occur on November 8 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida.
Criticism has already been leveled at the third scheduled debate, as two of the three moderators are from the left-leaning NBC News. Hugh Hewitt of “The Hugh Hewitt Show” will be joined by Lester Holt of “Nightly News” and Kristen Welker of “Meet the Press.”
Hewitt is expected to act as the debate’s conservative component, as promised by Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. She did, however, acknowledge that it would be difficult to wholly exclude members of the mainstream media, as there are just a few established conservative networks.
“But the reality is, you know, there’s not enough conservative networks. We can’t do all the debates on Fox,” McDaniel said in April. “So that’s an issue we’re going to be facing and dealing with as we go forward, but there will be a conservative partner with every single debate.”
This comes as Trump is currently leading in several polls across the country. Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll’s survey also shows that 39 percent of voters support Trump, while President Joe Biden received 33 percent and Kennedy Jr. with 19 percent. Nine percent of voters said that they did not know or were unsure.
In a two-way race, Trump is still ahead of Biden by 5 percent, with the former president receiving 46 percent of the vote to Biden’s 41 percent. According to 14 percent of respondents, they were unsure or didn’t know.
