Former president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump again took the spotlight from his GOP rivals, being given a primetime speaking slot at a North Carolina GOP convention. Trump, who will speak at 6:30 PM Eastern on Saturday, currently holds a commanding lead over runner-up Ron DeSantis despite the flurry of criminal charges that the partisan Department of Justice is launching against him.
Former vice president Mike Pence entered the increasingly crowded 2024 field earlier this week to little avail, leaving Trump and DeSantis to be the effective headliners of the event. Currently at just 5 percent in the polls, the vice president faces an uphill battle against the two GOP titans.
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Political science professor Thomas Gift justified the slight favoritism of the event, saying to Newsmax:
Trump’s headliner status at the Republican convention in North Carolina reflects a very simple reality: in today’s GOP, he’s the main attraction, the de facto leader of the party, and the prohibitive favorite to take the presidential nomination all wrapped up into one. That doesn’t mean he has the 2024 nod locked up. But more and more Republican leaders seem to be assuming that the next several months are shaping up to be a Trump coronation.”
The 45th President presents an irresistible ratings-boost opportunity to television networks. According to the New York Post, CNN’s Town Hall with the former president in early May garnered a staggering audience of 3.3 million, a nearly 700% increase from CNN’s average nightly viewership of 494,000. With the president on the warpath against the GOP and Democrats alike, Trump’s North Carolina speech will surely steal the attention of both pundits and opposition.
Analysts are saying that DeSantis’s Friday night speaking slot, which will occur at 6:30 PM Eastern, is the worst slot among the three candidates, which may indicate who the GOP feels will take the nomination in 2024. An Opinion Diagnostics poll shows President Trump is leagues ahead of his competition in North Carolina, polling at 44 percent among declared candidates and 50 percent in a two-way race between himself and DeSantis. The latter stands at just 34 percent.
North Carolina holds its primaries on “Super Tuesday,” when 24 states simultaneously have primary elections. While North Carolina is not particularly important, winning the Super Tuesday states is crucial to winning a party nomination.
A graph in the tweet below shows the scale of Trump’s lead.
2024 North Carolina Republican Primary
Trump — 44%
DeSantis — 22%
Haley — 7%
Pence — 6%
T. Scott — 4%
Christie — 2%
Ramaswamy — 1%
Hutchinson — 1%
Undecided — 11%2-Way
Trump — 50%
DeSantis — 34%
Undecided — 15%Opinion Diagnostics | 408 LV | June 5-7https://t.co/vOWFcwSVQs pic.twitter.com/mKf6OJOsbC
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) June 8, 2023
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The massive influx of GOP candidates has done little to sway the right-wing electorate away from the former president. Between botched campaign launches and incomprehensible campaign slogans, the underwhelming options presented have left DeSantis and Trump the only realistic contenders.
How will this change now that Trump has been indicted…….again.
— Rick B. (@RickK98k) June 9, 2023
President Trump is also likely to experience a surge in support following the announcement of seven criminal charges relating to his handling of classified documents. While the primary nomination process is still in its infancy, relentless partisan persecution and lackluster alternatives create a perfect storm for the former president’s return.
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