Which candidates are running to the left and right of Trump?

[Arizona Iced Tea]

Which candidates do you think are running to the left (more centrist) than Trump and who is running to the right of him. I understand a person's political views are nuanced but just overall who is on which side?

Using the following list I have:

Doug Burgum-Left
Chris Christie-Left
Ron DeSantis-Right
Larry Elder-Right
Nikki Haley-Left
Asa Hutchinson-Left
Mike Pence-TBD, I think raw policy he is to the right of Trump although he might run a scorched earth campaign against MAGA movement
Vivek Ramaswamy-Right
Tim Scott-Left

[AltWorlder]

I appreciate the attempt and it makes sense from sort of a holistic point of view, but also bear in mind not only there are economic and social/cultural dimensions to what makes someone left or right, but subdivisions within that. For instance, is it left or right to be anti-NAFTA? It's anti-free trade, which makes it less right, but then if it's done as part of nationalism of an economic sort, then that's also right-wing. (Neoliberal vs. paleocon)

From a social point of view, anti-woke is certainly right-wing. But don't forget what made Trump so hated and feared in the first place was his tendency to dip into really harsh nativist anti-immigration, racebaiting language, even if maybe at the end of the day his border policy wasn't all that different from say, Ted Cruz's. Not to mention his dog-whistling or perceived covert support for the alt-right, or their fan worship of him even when he didn't fully reciprocate or understand what they were about, and so on.

[Redban]

Pence is to the right of Trump. Pence wants to aim hard at cutting the budget deficit by reforming entitlements. Trump’s position on entitlements is the same as Joe Biden’s (ie do nothing until the programs go solvent in 10 years)

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Depends. Most are running to his right on policy, but to his left on "democracy" and being mean to people.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Like AltWorlder, I appreciate the attempt to place Donald Trump relative to his apparent primary opponents. But aren't Trump's positions just "whatever he's saying right now"?

The only planks of any hypothetical platform Donald Trump cares about are:

Donald Trump gets to do what he wants.
Donald Trump doesn't face any (negative) consequences.
Donald Trump doesn't run out of money.
Donald Trump gets to feel important.

(See the current "Republican Party Platform" if you disagree.)

If he could get all those by sounding like the second coming of Hubert Humphrey, he would. As it stands, his path to getting what he wants is the equivalent of Sherman's March to the Sea on the remaining functional aspects of American democracy and government.

Measured on the scale of "destroy American democracy", the OPs post is accurate. DeSantis is openly running on "abuse of office and power to implement an oppressive regime" while Pence is a milquetoast Christofacist. The rest of them (except Larry Elder, who is somewhere between Trump and DeSantis), however much I disagree with their politics, appear less inclined to wreck the Republic than Trump (or the typical Republican voter).

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Christie is the Moderate but he is at 1 percentage pts just like DeSantis they waited too long to attack they said save Trump during the NY indictment they got their wish Trump will be the nominee but will lose to BIDEN

You don't say save Trump during an indictment and try to win the nomination, Trump at this point if he doesn't win the nomination will go 3rd party and cost Rs Eday anyways just like if he wins the nomination he is gonna cost zrs the WH, no way Trump keeps it close Ds are licking their chops for a 232 DH and 52/48 S AZ, MO, MT, TX and OH, Rev Barber whom does weekends on Symonne and Simon said that because 65 M are impoverished t

Rev Barber said triage Sinema and Manchin but is a Super PAC for Gallego, ALLRED, Kunce, Brown and Tester

We don't know yet on FL because there is no Nominee

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

I don’t think the left/right framework is very productive when it comes to this election. It’s more an axis of Pro-Trump Anti-Democracy vs. Anti-Trump & Pro-Democracy axis

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I don’t think the left/right framework is very productive when it comes to this election. It’s more an axis of Pro-Trump Anti-Democracy vs. Anti-Trump & Pro-Democracy axis

It doesn't matter amyways because the most electable one is Christie and he is at 1% in the polls because even he said save Trump after NY indictment

Do users even bother to look at polls both Trump and Biden are at 52% it doesn't matter whom Rs nominate, they aren't gonna beat Biden in 4% unemployment especially Trump whom lost already

Look at the forum not one D users has come to Trump Trump got all the blue avatars only 70M R in this country but Ds red avatar are 80M

[S019]

Everyone is running to Trump’s left

[Reactionary Libertarian]

Pence is to the right of Trump. Pence wants to aim hard at cutting the budget deficit by reforming entitlements. Trump’s position on entitlements is the same as Joe Biden’s (ie do nothing until the programs go solvent in 10 years)

You mean insolvent. But yeah, Pence is running way to Trump’s right. On entitlements but also on abortion.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Everyone is running to Trump’s left right

Trump is not running as a conservative at all.  His main attacks against his political rivals have been about being too pro-life and too wanting to cut government programs.

[S019]

Everyone is running to Trump’s left right

Trump is not running as a conservative at all.  His main attacks against his political rivals have been about being too pro-life and too wanting to cut government programs.

It is true that he isn’t running as a conservative. Rather, Trump is the only far right candidate in this race. He is running to the right of the conservatives and has adopted the far right rhetoric on issues like democracy and institutions and is going hard on xenophobia, another common far right issue.

[Sir Mohamed]

Definitely RDS, especially on cultural issues and Covid/vaccines. Vivek is another contender, though I barely saw any substantial policy proposals from him other than complaints about "wokeism" and delusional takes on trade.

[Lambsbread]

I think the ultimate test of this, and one that every candidate should be forced to answer on the debate stage without equivocation in front of Donald Trump, is whether or not the 2020 presidential election was stolen and if Biden is an illegitimate president. Anyone who says yes should be disqualified from running for President.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I think the ultimate test of this, and one that every candidate should be forced to answer on the debate stage without equivocation in front of Donald Trump, is whether or not the 2020 presidential election was stolen and if Biden is an illegitimate president. Anyone who says yes should be disqualified from running for President.

Sure, in a perfect world this would happen, but no one is going to answer that, especially with Trump standing there. Each candidate will give the "I'm not here to talk about the 2020 election" line we've seen. I think I recall even Chris Sununu giving a vague answer when asked about voter fraud on a Sunday morning show.

The only candidate I can see saying flat out Trump lost woud be Christie because he knows he isn't winning nor does he have a future in politics.

[Lambsbread]

I think the ultimate test of this, and one that every candidate should be forced to answer on the debate stage without equivocation in front of Donald Trump, is whether or not the 2020 presidential election was stolen and if Biden is an illegitimate president. Anyone who says yes should be disqualified from running for President.

Sure, in a perfect world this would happen, but no one is going to answer that, especially with Trump standing there. Each candidate will give the "I'm not here to talk about the 2020 election" line we've seen. I think I recall even Chris Sununu giving a vague answer when asked about voter fraud on a Sunday morning show.

The only candidate I can see saying flat out Trump lost woud be Christie because he knows he isn't winning nor does he have a future in politics.

That is the operative question in front of all candidates in my view. Look, I'm not a Republican primary voter and I'm not going to vote for the Republican nominee no matter what so my opinion likely won't matter to any Republicans, but this is a question of basic respect for the rule of law. If we cannot confidently elect a President who has faith in American democracy, we cannot proceed as a country. The rest of the issues do not matter. And that should be a grave concern for all Republicans, because Democrats could just as easily do the same thing in the future (and before anyone says they tried to do that with Russia in 2016, there was literally no organized effort to deny the peaceful transition of power and Hillary ultimately accepted the results, despite how bitter she has been in the years since)

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I think the ultimate test of this, and one that every candidate should be forced to answer on the debate stage without equivocation in front of Donald Trump, is whether or not the 2020 presidential election was stolen and if Biden is an illegitimate president. Anyone who says yes should be disqualified from running for President.

Sure, in a perfect world this would happen, but no one is going to answer that, especially with Trump standing there. Each candidate will give the "I'm not here to talk about the 2020 election" line we've seen. I think I recall even Chris Sununu giving a vague answer when asked about voter fraud on a Sunday morning show.

The only candidate I can see saying flat out Trump lost woud be Christie because he knows he isn't winning nor does he have a future in politics.

That is the operative question in front of all candidates in my view. Look, I'm not a Republican primary voter and I'm not going to vote for the Republican nominee no matter what so my opinion likely won't matter to any Republicans, but this is a question of basic respect for the rule of law. If we cannot confidently elect a President who has faith in American democracy, we cannot proceed as a country. The rest of the issues do not matter. And that should be a grave concern for all Republicans, because Democrats could just as easily do the same thing in the future (and before anyone says they tried to do that with Russia in 2016, there was literally no organized effort to deny the peaceful transition of power and Hillary ultimately accepted the results, despite how bitter she has been in the years since)

Agree with you. I'm just saying I would not expect any Republican to give you a straight answer on a debate stage. Each time I've heard that question posed to candidates, they sidestep it or go on a tangent about "election integrity" rather than saying whether or not they believe Trump lost.