Poll: Majority of GOP Voters Think Donald Trump Should Start a New Party

President Donald Trump arrives to speak to a campaign rally at Ocala International Airport
AP Photo/Evan Vucci

A majority of GOP voters support the prospect of former President Trump forming a new party, a Rasmussen Reports survey released Tuesday found.

The survey, taken January 21 and 24, 2021, among 1,000 likely U.S. voters told respondents, “Former President Trump has suggested he may start a third party. Is this a good idea or a bad idea?”

While a plurality of likely voters, or 45 percent, believe it is a bad idea, a majority of GOP voters, or 53 percent, consider it a good idea, as do 41 percent of those surveyed overall. The survey coincides with rumors of the former president considering forging a new political party outside of the current Republican Party — a rumor which Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel has vehemently denied.

“I’ve talked to the president [Trump]. I’ve talked to others around the president, who are talking to him every day. He’s not going to start a third party,” McDaniel told Fox News on Tuesday.

Thirty percent of Republicans said that it would be a bad idea for Trump to start another party, and 17 percent said they remained unsure. Those outside of either major party remain virtually split in opinion, with 43 percent expressing the belief that it would be a good idea for Trump to form another party and 42 percent indicating otherwise. Sixteen percent remain unsure.

The survey also asked respondents, “If former President Trump started a third party, would you consider the Trump party better or worse than the Republican Party, or about the same?” A plurality said they would consider it to be “worse,” followed by 34 percent who said “better,” 17 percent who said “about the same,” and six percent who said they were not sure. Among GOP voters, 49 percent believe the new party would be “better,” 33 percent said “worse,” 21 percent said “about the same,” and eight percent said, “not sure.”

The survey’s margin of error is +/- 3 percent.

Jason Miller, a senior campaign adviser to Trump, has also dismissed ideas that Trump is actively planning to launch a third party.

Trump “has made clear his goal is to win back the House and Senate for Republicans in 2022,” Miller said, according to CNN. “There’s nothing that’s actively being planned regarding an effort outside of that.”

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