Republican Losers and Donald Trump

“Loser. Loser. Loser,” was the attack leveled by 2024 GOP hopeful Chris Christie (R-NJ) at former President and current GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, describing the electoral shortcomings for the Republican party under Trump in the 2018, 2020, and 2022 elections. Although Christie is the longest of long shots based on current polling data, he is hardly alone in questioning Trump’s electability.

Ben Shapiro, one of the most popular commentators in the conservative movement, has noted that “[m]any Republicans still think of Trump as a winner, even after his losses in the 2018 midterm election, 2020 presidential election, 2021 Georgia Senate races and 2022 midterms. When they don't, he drops in the polls, as in December 2022… It will be [GOP candidate Ron] DeSantis' job to remind Republican voters that Trump has won precisely one election in the last seven years; it will be the job of Republican voters to acknowledge that reality.”

Though perhaps offensive to diehard conservative voters, Shapiro’s warning is not without merit: polling data indicates that Trump is particularly unpopular among independent voters, who claim that he is too caustic and divisive. A major fly in the ointment for the anti-Trump argument, however, is that despite constant media attacks from both the Left and the Right, along with multiple lawsuits and indictments, Trump possesses a commanding lead in the current 2024 polls.