In possibly the greatest rematch since the Ali-Frasier “Thriller in Manilla,” Trump and Biden are right now in a statical dead heat for 2024!
Even as the former President drew huge applause at a recent South Carolina rally when he titillated a 2024 presidential run, new polls suggest that such an epic rematch between Trump and Biden is currently deadlocked, with no clear winner despite Bidens plummeting approval ratings.
At the rally, Trump said, “In 2024, we are going to take back that beautiful, beautiful White House,” Trump said, repeating a well-used line. “I wonder who will do that. I wonder. I wonder.”
But according to a just-released poll, that may be a little easier said than done for the former president. A national poll released Friday, Mar. 12 by the Wall Street Journal, says that it’s all tied up between Biden and Trump, albeit t this extremely early point in the next presidential election cycle.
Voters were split at 45% in a hypothetical matchup between Biden and Trump when asked who they would vote for in 2024. The poll was conducted March 2-7, and the results on the 2024 matchup question remain unchanged from the Journal’s previous poll conducted in November.
While yet to make a definite announcement of another run to retake the White House, Trump remains the most popular and influential politician in the Republican Party as he continues to play a kingmaker’s role in the GOP 2022 primaries. And South Carolina plays an important role in presidential politics, as it holds the first southern primary and votes third in the GOP’s presidential nominating calendar.
Speaking to Fox News, Dave Wilson – the president of the Columbia, South Carolina-based conservative Christian nonprofit the Palmetto Family Council said that Trump’s rally “is much about impacting Washington DC in 2022 as it is about 2024.”
He suggested that Trump could use the rally to “see exactly where the voters are to make an informed choice about what he’s going to do in 2024.”
But Trump’s far from the only potential Republican White House hopeful to pass through the state over the past year.
The other possible contender who’s made the most visits – former Vice President Mike Pence, who’s scheduled to return to the Palmetto State twice this spring.
Wilson spotlighted that anyone interested in running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination “recognizes the importance of South Carolina” and “how important South Carolina is to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue becoming your place of residence.”
Pence, while also not making any kind of official announcement of his intentions for 2024, is also looking quite “presidential” of late. The former VP met last week with Ukrainian refugees flooding into Poland as they escaped Russia’s military assault of their country. Pence, who has condemned Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s deadly invasion, was in Ukraine along its border with Poland.
“The impact of the Russian invasion on these families is heartbreaking, and the need for support is great,” Pence emphasized in a tweet.
Pence was accompanied by his wife, former second lady Karen Pence. The two traveled to the region with Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian humanitarian organization. They were joined by the group’s vice president of operations, Edward Graham, who’s the son of the organization’s president, the nationally known evangelical pastor Franklin Graham.
Pence’s overseas trip also took him to Israel, which provides further evidence that he is apparently mulling a 2024 GOP presidential nomination run.
The former vice president a week ago made headlines regarding the Russia-Ukraine war when he told a Republican National Committee gathering of top donors that “there is no room in this party for apologists for Putin. There is only room for champions of freedom.”
Pence didn’t refer to Trump by name in his comments, but his targeting of those in the GOP who haven’t fully condemned Putin follows multiple remarks made last month by Pence’s former boss describing Putin’s “genius” and “savvy” in launching the attack.
A source says that the remark drew rousing applause in the room.
So before Trump can go back up against Joe Biden, he may very well need to get past his former second in command.