by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch
Four GOP presidential candidates will debate tonight in Tuscaloosa, Ala., each chasing the conservative who keeps skipping the jousting, in part because none of his rivals has threatened his frontrunner status.
Former President Trump bowed out of three previous debates and plans tonight to headline a fundraiser in Florida. During a freewheeling, prerecorded town hall interview from Iowa with Fox News’s Sean Hannity Tuesday, Trump predicted he will win in Iowa, sidestepped questions about seeking retribution against perceived foes if he’s elected, attacked President Biden’s cognitive abilities and suggested Democrats will wind up with a different nominee next year.
Tonight’s Republican National Committee faceoff features Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Trump critic Chris Christie, the former GOP governor of New Jersey. Presidential aspirants Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) and North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum previously quit the race.
CABLE BROADCASTER NewsNation, owned by Nexstar Media, which also owns The Hill, will carry the event live beginning at 8 p.m. EST. Here’s how to watch and what to anticipate.
The Hill: Can Haley or DeSantis break from the trailing pack?
The former South Carolina governor and DeSantis, who are close in polls but lagging behind Trump, want to shake up the contest ahead of the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire GOP primary early next year.
Haley, who previously attracted voter attention with solid debate performances, climbed from single to double digits among Republicans and now leads Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup, according to a Messenger/Harris poll released Tuesday. Trump leads Biden by a 7-point margin in the same survey.
DeSantis, once viewed by anti-Trump Republicans as a promising challenger in the GOP primary based on his decisive reelection as governor, has seen his early national momentum slide. Last week, he debated Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat who supports Biden for reelection. But DeSantis has shied from attacking Trump this year beyond mild barbs and veiled critiques. Once endorsed by Trump, the governor on Tuesday told the former president to “stop being a keyboard warrior” (The Hill).
How big is Trump’s lead over DeSantis and Haley? At least 50 points, according to a NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ poll published Monday. Six in 10 Republicans identify the former president as their top choice. Christie, who relishes bashing Trump and touts his accomplishments as a Republican who governed in a blue state, barely registers in the NewsNation poll at 3 percent. He has been encouraged to withdraw from the contest to throw more support behind Haley or DeSantis.
Bottom line:Are audiences watching these primary debates without Trump? The first RNC faceoff attracted 13 million viewers on Fox News, while about 9.5 million tuned in for the second candidate battle aired on Fox Business Network, Fox News and Univision. NBC News broadcast the third debate, which drew an audience of about 7.5 million.
CNN next week will host presidential town halls in Iowa with DeSantis and Ramaswamy.
Younger voters at the moment say they’re less likely to vote in 2024 than in 2020, according to a new poll from Harvard University’s Institute of Politics. Of respondents aged 18-29 who said they voted in the 2020 election, 49 percent said they “definitely” will be voting in the next presidential election; 17 percent said they will “probably” vote in the 2024 election.
The president suggested Tuesday that he might have opted to serve one term if not for the stakes in the election.
“If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running,” Biden told Democrats at a campaign fundraiser in the Boston area. “But we cannot let him win.”