Why is Trump still competitive against Biden after everything that's happened?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I am not sure if the polling is off or if the voters of this country are just that stupid, but I cannot fathom that we'll elect Trump again given all that has happened since the 2020 election. We'd be the laughing stock of the world.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The indictments are making him stronger and hardly anyone on Atlas is equipped to understand why.

I think a lot of us understand why. Many Trump supporters feel like they are victims in today's world and he is their voice and spiritual leader. All of these indictments represent the elites/liberal/globalist forces who are enemies of Trump's base that are trying to take out their leader before he retakes power.

I suppose there is nothing Trump can do that will lose him support of 41-44% of the electorate. I do think most of the undecides will vote for Biden or not vote. I can't imagine how you can be undecided and go vote for Trump in the end.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I can't imagine how you can be undecided and go vote for Trump in the end.

People who simply prefer the economy in 2019 to the one in 2023.

We won't go back to the economy in 2019 whether Trump is re-elected or not. We're in a post-pandemic world that has changed a lot. There are a whole host of other risks that come with sending him back to the White House that I'd rather not live through.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

As always with Trump, the question is with whom a particular event makes him stronger, his base or his base and a broader electorate? Kavanaugh juiced up Republican turnout and they still got absolutely crushed in 2018 with relatively favorable economic fundamentals/no foreign crisis. Why? Because he and his party's brand were absolutely toxic among vast swaths of the electorate who weren’t part of the base.

I agree that the indictments have made a good chunk of his supporters even more enthusiastic, but there’s absolutely no evidence it’s made him stronger in a general election.

Yes, Trump's base is vocal; it’s really, really loud, it’s super-passionate, but for the umpteenth time — it’s not even close to a plurality of the American electorate. An unenthusiastic Biden vote counts just as much as an enthusiastic Trump vote.

We know Trump's supporters do not make up the majority of the electorate, but as we saw in 2020, Trump can still come extremely close to winning the EC even when losing the popular vote by as much as he did.

All it takes is a few thousand votes to shift in GA, PA, WI, AZ, etc. for another 4 years of chaos.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I honestly don't know.  I figured he wouldn't even be leading his own party for the nomination considering what has gone on. I guess we need another year to see how the polls will really be.

No offense, but why would anyone think GOP primary voters would suddenly now have some type of moral compass about this? Especially after the loons that were nominated in 2022.

None taken. Well, what I think is that GOP voters would have Trump fatigue and want to move on. Don't you think that after so many years a particular party would want to move on from a specific candidate?

The GOP base is a cult of personality. It isn't a political party anymore and thinking of it as such will drive anyone crazy.