Opinion Research and Strategic Guidance for Political, Corporate, and Nonprofit Clients Nationwide
Whit Ayres’ comments in The Hill regarding the effect of a No Labels presidential candidate:
“In a contest with Biden and Trump, there is no way a No Labels candidate could win,” Whit Ayres, a leading Republican pollster, told me. “That candidate couldn’t win any states; they’d get zero electoral votes.”
To read the full article, please click here.
Whit Ayres’ comments in The Hill regarding former President Donald Trump’s position in the Republican presidential primary:
Whit Ayres, a prominent Republican pollster, said the possibility of additional indictments against Trump by the Department of Justice and the Fulton County district attorney in Georgia could swing the race away from Trump, predicting that charges from those prosecutors would have more credibility than Bragg’s indictment.
“People seem to have an inevitable tendency to jump to premature conclusions well before we know many of the key elements of a campaign environment,” he said in response to comments by some GOP senators that Trump’s victory in next year’s primary looks inevitable.
“What might be the political effects of serious felony indictments backed up a mountain of compelling evidence?” he asked of potential felony charges that Trump incited the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and tried to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia.
“Are Republican voters really going to dismiss multiple credible felony indictments backed up by substantial evidence, if indeed they occur? They might, but I don’t know the answer to that,” he said.
To read the full article, please click here.
Whit Ayres’ comments in The Washington Post regarding views of President Biden’s age and Vice President Harris’ capabilities:
Biden is in an unprecedented situation because of his low-40s approval ratings and the clear aversion many have to him running again, Republican pollster Whit Ayres said. Harris’s struggles to generate strong support from voters in either party have added complexity to Biden’s reelection prospects, Ayers added. More than dozen Democratic leaders in key states expressed concerns earlier this year about Harris’s political strength in interviews with The Washington Post.
“That’s an enormous number of people who really don’t want the incumbent president to run again,” Ayres said. “You layer on top of that the fact that the vast majority of the American people do not believe that someone in their mid-80s should try to be shouldering the enormous burdens and pressures of the presidency — and that is especially true when he has a vice president who is widely viewed by members of both parties as not ready for prime time. That is an enormous hill to climb.”
To read the full article, please click here.
Whit Ayres’ comments in The Los Angeles Times about former President Trump’s support in the Republican primary:
“Trump is obviously the favorite, but he’s beatable,” Republican strategist Alex Conant said. “He’s beatable because the race isn’t static. The poll numbers today are not what they will be six months from now.”
GOP pollster Whit Ayres agreed and pointed to evidence that primary voters are open to other candidates.
In focus groups, he said, he’s encountered “people who voted for Trump, who like what he did as president, but they don’t think Trump can win this time. … They want somebody who has a different temperament.”
Ayres estimates that roughly a third of Republicans are unshakable “Always Trump” loyalists.
But a larger chunk of the GOP electorate, about 60%, consists of people who voted for Trump in 2016 or 2020 but are willing to consider alternatives — a group he calls “Maybe Trump.”
They’re a potential majority in Republican primaries, and that makes them the key to the nomination.
Polls suggest Ayres is right.
To read the full article, please click here.
Whit Ayres’ comments in Politico about President Biden’s low visibility campaign:
With polls showing a majority of Americans preferring that Biden not seek a second term, the campaign team has its work cut out for them. The task being to gin up support from your own base while keeping yourself off of center stage can, at times, be in conflict. But there is one way to do both: focusing attention on the Republican alternative.
“Republicans nominating Trump again plays right into Biden’s message,” GOP pollster Whit Ayres conceded. “Biden only won in 2020 by a hair in the Electoral College, and he has significant problems now. But his unobtrusiveness is not one of them. In part, that’s what he ran on: not being in your face every day.”
To read the full article, please click here.
Whit Ayres’ comments in Time on a potential 2020 rematch in 2024:
The most compelling thing going for him among Democrats may be that he seems likely to again face Trump. And Trump’s already lost that match-up before. “He beat Trump once and Democrats appreciate that accomplishment,” says Republican strategist Whit Ayres. But Ayres notes, “just because he beat him doesn’t mean he can beat him again.”
To read the full article, please click here.
Whit Ayres’ comments in The Wall Street Journal on the Republican presidential primary:
Because of what Mr. Trump accomplished in 2016, it would be foolish to count him out next year. But Whit Ayres, a veteran GOP strategist, told me that Republicans who believe that someone other than the former president stands a better chance of defeating Mr. Biden should take note of what Democrats did in 2020. “It’s not how many people start the race, it’s how many people stay in after they have no chance of winning,” Mr. Ayres said. “And once Biden won South Carolina in 2020, literally within hours the rest of the field dropped out and endorsed him.”
To read the full article, please click here.
Whit Ayres’ comments in The New York Times about electability and Donald Trump:
“It has sounded like an excuse to get conservative voters to support somebody they don’t really want, even though the argument may very well be true,” said Whit Ayres, a veteran Republican pollster. Citing G.O.P. losses while Mr. Trump has defined the party — in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 — Mr. Ayres added of the former president and the G.O.P. 2024 front-runner, “There is no education in the fifth kick of a mule, and yet it appears that’s where we’re headed.”
To read the full article, please click here.
Dan Judy’s comments to The Hill regarding the state of play in the Republican presidential primaries:
“There is definitely room for another candidate — though perhaps only one, ultimately, if Trump and DeSantis suck all the air out of the room,” said GOP strategist Dan Judy.
Judy argued that a large swath of the electorate in the GOP primary can be best defined as “Maybe Trump.” These voters are not hostile to the former president in the same way as the more fervent but smaller “Never Trump” camp is, but they would nevertheless prefer some other candidate as nominee.
Judy pointed out that there is still some possibility, however small, that DeSantis might take a pass on the race. More pertinently, if the Florida governor does get in, there are no guarantees that he will live up to his supporters’ expectations.
“If he gets in and is not ready for prime time or does not make the impression that a lot of people expect that he will, then what happens? Is it, ‘Fine, ‘we’ll just give it to Trump’ or are we looking for someone else?”
To read the full article, please click here.
Whit Ayres’ comments in The Christian Science Monitor on former President Trump’s calls to protest a potential indictment:
“The last time Donald Trump called supporters to protest his election loss on Jan. 6, more than 1,000 people faced criminal charges,” says GOP pollster Whit Ayres. “That might give some people pause before they answer Trump’s call to protest this time. You could end up losing your job, your freedom, your family.”
To read the full column, please click here.
Whit Ayres' comments in The Hill regarding the effect of a No Labels presidential candidate: “In a contest with Biden and … [Read More...]
Whit Ayres' comments in The Hill regarding former President Donald Trump's position in the Republican presidential … [Read More...]
Whit Ayres' comments in The Washington Post regarding views of President Biden's age and Vice President Harris' … [Read More...]
Whit Ayres' comments in The Los Angeles Times about former President Trump's support in the Republican primary: “Trump is … [Read More...]
Whit Ayres' comments in Politico about President Biden's low visibility campaign: With polls showing a majority of … [Read More...]
Dr. Whit Ayres, president of North Star Opinion Research, co-founded Resurgent Republic with former RNC Chair Ed Gillespie. Read More...
Copyright © 2023 · Associate Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in