July 24 – Former vice president Mike Pence is having quite a poor showing in the polls recently.
Pence announced his candidacy for president in 2024 early this June. Since then, it hasn’t looked all that promising.
Attorney Clint Barkdoll said, “Pence is getting zero traction in this race. He may not even qualify for that first debate, which is in four weeks because he’s not polling at the requisite threshold. It also looks like he’s struggling with fundraising. He was on the Sunday talk show circuit. It’s getting a lot of attention because he now seems to be defending Donald Trump and what happened on January 6, even though Pence has been very critical of Donald Trump and January 6 prior to yesterday.”
Observers are wondering if this switch is just a political ploy.
Barkdoll wondered if he could be “trying to say things that curry favor with voters and this against the backdrop of the Fox Business poll that shows Trump’s lead expanding in Iowa and in South Carolina. We’re only about six months away from the first caucus and first primary. You get up to a lead of 30 points and there’s still a lot of time. Things could still happen. But at some point this lead gets to be very difficult to overcome. The biggest loser I think in all this right now might be Ron DeSantis. He is spending a fortune on this race and every poll that comes out, his numbers are ticking down. It seems like the more voters see of him, the less they like him and you remember when he jumped into the race, everyone thought he’s likely going to be the guy neck and neck with Trump and it’s just not turning out to be the case so far.”
Michele Jansen of NewsTalk 103.7FM noted, “The media certainly isn’t helping him every turn you take. It feels like sometimes I don’t think it’s reality. I think it’s more of a message and a narrative that people hear because when you look at his performance on that Town Hall type thing or the forum thing, it wasn’t bad at all. But at the same time, I think he’s fighting just like Donald Trump had to fight and continues to have to fight a very negative media campaign against him which that’s not the job they’re supposed to be in, but it seems like the job they’ve decided to take.”
Barkdoll said, “I still have this theory, Trump may get indicted two more times this week, criminally, both from the state of Georgia, Fulton County, and from the Federal Prosecutor Jack Smith on January 6, and his poll numbers go up every time he’s indicted. There is a theory out there, well, maybe that’s deliberate. In Biden world, the only candidate polling shows he would be competitive against Trump. So there’s this odd idea that the more trouble you keep putting out for Trump to elevate him, push him through the primary, the more likely it is he becomes the nominee for next fall. I hope that’s not what is happening.”
Quinnipiac and Monmouth both had polls that now show Biden beating Trump one to one.
Barkdoll said, “But then you saw a third poll out over the weekend that showed Trump beating Biden one on one. Any way you cut it if it’s those two, most voters don’t want that rematch, but it also shows a very close race if the election were held today.”
