Donald Trump is two months into his quadrennial reality show of Celebrity Who Wants to be a Vice President Survivor?
Since vanquished Republican rivals Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy and Doug Burgum joined him onstage in New Hampshire, Trump has taken pleasure in turning his rally stages into auditions or dropping new names in interviews.
The result is a mix of ‘The Apprentice’ and ‘Guess Who?’
Would Rep. Elise Stefanik or Nikki Haley or Gov. Kristi Noem help him win the tough vote among suburban women?
Would Senator Tim Scott or Representative Byron Donalds help him advance among African Americans?
To test the impact of VP choices, JL Partners surveyed 1,000 voters about their voting intentions. The results show how a Trump-Rubio ticket helps the former president slightly more than others
Former President Donald Trump pictured with Vivek Ramaswamy at his first all-night watch party in Nashua, New Hampshire. Ramawamy is often pitched as a potential VP pick
One of the newest, and perhaps more unexpected, names in the frame is Sen. Marco Rubio, at a time when the Trump world says the former president is seriously considering working with a Latin American vice president.
Or how about Vivek Ramaswamy to bring hype-man energy to the ticket?
To test who brings what to the presidential ticket, JL Partners asked 1,000 likely voters for their thoughts on the VP picks to face Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
The results are close, but could give Trump food for thought as he ponders his decision (if he hasn’t already made it).
They show that Rubio offers the best prospect of peeling Democrats away from Biden and Harris, while Ramaswamy – whose sphere is Trump with ADHD – is the worst performer.
Trump wins by one point if Rubio, Ramaswamy and Scott are on the ticket. But he loses with Stefanik, Haley or Noem.
With Ramaswamy, about 88 percent of Republicans say they would vote for the Trump ticket.
But for Stefanik that drops to 81 percent.
With Rubio, known as a more centrist Republican than Trump with a deep interest in foreign policy, the ticket would gain six points of Democratic support. Ramaswamy is doing the worst and would likely help boost Democratic turnout against Trump, according to the results.
The poll shows that Vivek Ramaswamy is the most helpful in rolling out Republicans
Senator Marco Rubio has been mentioned as a possible running mate within Trump’s inner circle
Representative Elise Stefanik (left) and even former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has not endorsed Trump since dropping out of the presidential race, are other possible candidates
Trump supporters who gathered in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday for a rally that was hastily postponed as storm clouds rolled in said they had no strong feelings.
As long as their man has a ticket, they said his choice of running mate would make little difference.
Bob Sloan, 52, said he trusted Trump to make the right decision. Rubio, he added, seemed trustworthy, “to a point.”
“He’s a politician,” the dock electrician explained. ‘I don’t trust politicians. That’s why I love Trump. You have to run the country like a business.’
A complication for Rubio is that he and Trump both live in Florida. The former president has told aides that Rubio would have to move to avoid violating constitutional rules, and that could be difficult for a father with a family who built his political life in Florida.
Trump speaks with North Dakota Governor Kristi Noem at a Buckeye Values PAC Rally in Vandalia, Ohio, last month
JL Partners surveyed 1,000 likely voters from March 20 to 24 via landline, mobile phone, text message and apps. The results have a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent
Overall results show Donald Trump maintaining his four-point lead over Joe Biden with just over seven months until the November 5 presidential election
James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners, which conducted the poll, said one of the key considerations for Trump would be how well the VP pick would fare with the public.
“While the numbers are tight, our voting tests with different VP candidates show that different options offer a range of possibilities for Trump, some more optimal than others,” he said.
“Ramaswamy, for example, is best at bolstering support among both Republicans and Independents, although with Trump’s dominance of the Republican base there may not be much benefit to the former.”
Rubio and Scott, he added, were in the best position to reach Democrats.
“The VP candidate with the widest reach appears to be Marco Rubio: he is doing best among non-college graduates, women and those over 65, with the latter two groups being key areas of defense for Republicans in the upcoming elections,” he said .