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As many, including fellow Republican presidential nominees, criticized former President Donald Trump for skipping the first GOP debate last week to be interviewed by Tucker Carlson, new polls are showing strong support for him still.
Last week, the former president released a statement on Truth Social notifying voters that he would not be attending the first GOP debate in Milwaukee. Instead, Trump opted for a 45-minute long interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson discussing topics from the war in Ukraine to Jeffrey Epstein’s death.
However, prior to the interview fellow presidential nominees such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were openly criticizing Trump for skipping the debates.
Christie posted on social media calling the former president a “certified loser, verified coward,” while Gov. DeSantis commented through a super PAC video stating that the party “can’t afford a nominee too weak to debate.”
According to new polls though Trump has not only remained in a strong lead as the Republican nominee, but gained some momentum as well in general election polls.
A recent poll conducted by Morning Consult shows that Trump is holding at 58 percent as a Republican nominee, which is a 44-point lead in comparison to runner-up Gov. DeSantis who sits only at 14 percent.
Another national poll conducted by the New York Post shows that following the interview, Trump’s standing within a general election has him leading Biden by 3 points.
The poll had asked voters who they would vote for if the 2024 presidential elections were held today, in which case 44 percent would vote for Trump, 41 would vote for Biden, and 15 percent opted for someone else.
Notably, a separate survey conducted by Morning Consult recently found that 62 percent of “potential primary voters” believe that the former president has the best chance of beating Biden, which is up 9 points since tracking in April.