Tipsheet

Trump Continues to Dominate the GOP Playing Field

The Trump train is still fully packed and loaded, heading for the next stop: the White House. 

According to law enforcement, former President Trump's rally over the weekend attracted more than 50,000 supporters— despite the small town of Pickens, South Carolina, only having roughly 3,400 residents. 

The rally in the heavily Republican area was only expected to draw 30,000 people. However, massive crowds began to line the streets in anticipation of giving Trump a warm welcome ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. 

Other GOP candidates, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have all held events in the area. However, none drew an audience like Trump. 

Trump continues to dominate the GOP presidential playing field despite countless attacks to destroy him by the Democratic Party. 

According to a recent Echelon Insights poll, 48 percent of voters would vote for Trump if the election were held today, compared with 41 percent who would vote for Biden.

Biden's favorability among respondents in battleground states was just 40 percent, while Trump's was 43 percent.

Trump bashed the 80-year-old president, telling thousands of his supporters that Biden is "grossly incompetent and can get us into World War 3." 

He continued to say that Biden has a China-first agenda, while Trump promised never to abandon America. 

The poll also found that Trump is in the lead at 49 percent, DeSantis marked 16 percent in second place, and Ramaswamy 10 percent in third. 

A DeSantis super PAC spokesman acknowledged that his campaign is "way behind" Trump's. 

"Right now, in national polling, we are way behind. I'll be the first to admit that," Steve Cortes, an ex-Trump adviser now a national spokesman for the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down super PAC, said during a Twitter Spaces event on Sunday. "I believe in being really blunt and really honest. It's an uphill battle."

According to a CNN poll, 47 percent of Republicans say Trump is their first choice for the GOP nomination, while DeSantis sits at 26 percent. 

"In the first four states— which matter tremendously— polls are a lot tighter," Cortez admitted. "We're clearly still down. We're down in the double digits. We have work to do. We have wood to chop."