Former President Donald Trump on Sunday attempted to spin a recent electoral analysis in which a strategist suggested that the GOP is “Trump’s party.”
Trump made the comment on Truth Social, his social media platform, in response to a Fox News article that was published Saturday tying into the recent primary elections in Ohio. In the GOP race, businessman Bernie Moreno handily secured the party’s nomination for a U.S. Senate race that will see him face off against the long-serving incumbent Democrat, Sherrod Brown.
Moreno secured the victory over his closest rival on the ballot, state Senator Matt Dolan, as well as Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. His success has been largely been attributed to the endorsement he received from Trump, who carried the Buckeye State in the last two general elections. Speaking to Fox News for the piece the former president shared, Moreno called Trump’s support “the most powerful endorsement in modern political history.”
“There’s never been anything like it before – probably won’t be anything like it afterwards,” Moreno said, later adding, “I want to thank President Trump for all he did for me, for this campaign, for his unwavering support. I wear with honor my endorsement from President Trump.”
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez-Pool/Getty Images
Elsewhere in the article, Fox News also cited a comment from Ryan Williams, whom the outlet described as a “veteran Republican strategist and communicator.”
“This is Trump’s party and his endorsement in contested primaries has proven to be helpful, but it’s not a lock,” Williams said.
In his post sharing the article on Truth Social, Trump attempted to spin his sway over the party, writing: “No, it’s America’s Party!”
Despite this assertion, evidence suggests that Trump’s standing outside of his GOP base with Americans overall is less than stellar. According to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight’s official average of favorability polls for the former president, Trump has an overall unfavorability rating of 52.8 percent, over 10 points higher than his 42.6 percent favorability rating.
Trump was similarly dogged by low approval ratings throughout his time in the White House, with Gallup data showing that his rating never exceeded 49 percent and dipped as low as 34 percent just before he left office in 2021.
A number of Trump-backed candidates in state elections across the country notably failed against their Democrat rivals in the 2022 midterm elections, casting doubt for many on the efficacy of Trump’s political influence. Ohio was, however, a state with a notable exception that year, with J.D. Vance winning a Senate seat off the back of the former president’s endorsement.
Trump is nevertheless the presumptive 2024 GOP nominee for president, and is set to face off against the presumptive Democratic nominee, incumbent President Joe Biden. Biden has faced similar popularity struggles throughout his first term, and current polls generally show him and Trump neck-and-neck heading into the general election.
Newsweek reached out to the Biden campaign via email on Sunday afternoon for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.