Although the senator warned that “a lot can happen between now and 2024”, he pointed to public opinion polls showing that Republican voters still overwhelmingly favor the former president.
“I look at the polls,” said Romney. “And research shows that, among the names that emerged as potential candidates in 2024, if you put President Trump there among the Republicans, he will win overwhelmingly.”
The senator’s remarks represent an absolute recognition of Trump’s staying power within the Republican Party from one of the former president’s most prominent Republican critics.
Romney was the only Republican senator to vote to condemn Trump in his first impeachment trial last year for his relations with Ukraine. And earlier this month, Romney and six other Republican Party colleagues found Trump guilty of inciting the January 6 uprising on Capitol Hill.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, who voted for Trump’s acquittal in his second impeachment trial, also said the former president was “morally and practically responsible” for the attack.
But high-ranking Republican congressmen have mostly softened their criticism of Trump in recent weeks, as the party reconciles with its persistent popularity among Republican voters and the resilience of its political base.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and House minority leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) Made pilgrimages to Trump’s resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where the former president resides, and Trump is due to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday – making his first major speech since leaving office.
Trump also confirmed that he will participate in the Republican National Committee’s spring donor retreat in April.
According to an instant POLITICO / Morning Consult poll conducted in the days after his second impeachment trial, 57 percent of Republican voters said they want Trump to play an important role in his party in the future, and 80 percent of Republican respondents said who viewed him favorably.
Asked who they would support in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries, 53 percent of Republicans interviewed said Trump. Former Vice President Mike Pence came in second, with 12 percent Republican support, and all other candidates voted in the single digits.