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Former President Donald Trump is the "weakest" major Republican candidate running in the 2024 presidential election, according to GOP pollster Frank Luntz.
According to recent polling, Trump is far and away the leading candidate vying to be the next Republican presidential nominee. The ex-president is also leading or even with President Joe Biden in most polls, despite much of his attention recently being focused on the avalanche of legal issues that he is facing, including 91 felony criminal counts and multiple civil lawsuits.
Luntz, who has provided polling and strategy for a number of high-profile Republicans over the years, suggested during a Tuesday interview on CNBC's Squawk Box that Trump's position in the general election polls was due to Biden being even weaker, arguing that candidates polling far behind Trump in GOP primary polls would do better against Biden.
"[Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley] beats Biden—she crushes him," said Luntz. "[Former New Jersey Governor] Chris Christie crushes him. Everyone ... [Florida Governor] Ron DeSantis, whose campaign has gone to hell, beats Joe Biden."
"Donald Trump trumpets his numbers, and they are very good right now," he continued. "But he is actually the weakest Republican against the Democrats."
Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump's office via email on Tuesday.
Luntz explained that what he believes is the Republican advantage in 2024 is due to the "weakness" of Democrats. He said that Biden in particular was failing to win over "young voters who should be backing" him by a wide margin.
Biden was urged to step aside as a candidate by Luntz. He suggested that Biden adviser Mitch Landrieu or Democratic Senator Cory Booker would both defeat Trump if they were the Democratic nominee instead.
"I don't understand for the life of me why [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and why [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries do not go to the White House and say, 'Sir, you've been a great president, you've done a good job for us, but it's time to move on," Luntz said.
Luntz incorrectly predicted that Republicans would sweep last year's midterm elections by historic margins, claiming that they would achieve "between 233-240 House seats" and win back the Senate.
In reality, Republicans performed far worse than most political observers predicted, winning back the House by a smaller-than-expected margin and remaining in the minority in the Senate while Democrats picked up a seat.
However, Luntz also argued before the election that Trump campaigning for GOP candidates would be the only way to "prevent Republicans from winning the majority," warning that the ex-president's false claims that the 2020 election was "stolen" from him would turn off voters outside of his base.
Many observers, including some Republicans, did attribute the Republican 2022 midterm failure to Trump's involvement, especially since high-profile Trump-backed GOP candidates including Mehmet Oz and Herschel Walker lost races that tilted control of the Senate.
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About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more