In the aftermath of the first Republican presidential primary debates last week, the former vice president of the United States, Mike Pence, predicted that former president Trump would eventually lose his place as the parties frontrunner for the nomination and that another candidate would be the torchbearer in 2024. Last Thursday on August 24th, a day after the debate in Milwaukee, Pence made the assertive claim that Trump, who leads by a large margin, will not be the standard bearer for the party.
Numerous polls across many news outlets continue to consistently place Trump firmly in the lead as the party’s presidential nominee. As of August 29th, the rear clear politics average has the 45th president polling at 53.9%, and Florida governor Ron Desantis polling at a distant second place percentage of some 13%. With Trump enjoying a 40-point lead with less than a year and a half remaining until election day of 2024, it would take a serious, swaying shift in voter perception to overtake him. This is unlikely to happen, as even in the face of four criminal indictments, the Don’s polling numbers continue to rise.
Pence is currently polling at about 5%. The former Vice President served with Trump, and for four years the two men worked efficiently and amicably together. Pence, and Indianan possessing a calm demeanor and polished decorum, counterbalanced the bombastic New Yorker in a complimentary way. The two remained on good terms until the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, when Pence refused to support Trumps bid to protest the electoral results as congress moved to verify them. While Pence remains “optimistic” about his chances in the Republican primary and hopes to be the party’s nominee, he made headlines after a blunder in an interview with Tucker Carlson earlier in the year. At the time, he stated he was more concerned with supporting the war in Ukraine than stopping crime in American cities.
