The race to win the Republican nomination for the US presidency reaches a new milestone in the electoral calendar this Wednesdaythe second debate of the candidates, without the best positioned candidate, Donald Trumpand in the face of the audience’s apparent disinterest.
The chosen scenario moves this time from Milwaukee (Wisconsin) to Simi Valley (California), but, as on the previous occasion, on August 23, The gazes once again focus precisely on his great absence, the former conservative president (2017-2021).
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Trump will voluntarily skip that televised meeting to go to Detroit and give his public support to the strikers in the automotive sectorwho have been protesting since September 15 in different Ford, General Motors (GM) and Stellantis factories demanding better working conditions.
His presence follows in the wake of the current president, Joe Biden, who this Tuesday joined the pickets and offered a historic image for posterity: which places an American leader in the front row of a strike delegation.
“Trump doesn’t show up to debates because he simply doesn’t need to.”. You expose yourself to criticism when you debate and it would not benefit you. He is so superior in the polls that he doesn’t need it,” Richard Groper, professor in the Department of Political Science at California State University, explains to Efe.
At the same time that the former president addresses the members of the United Auto Workers (UAW), The seven candidates who have exceeded the requirements of the Republican National Committee will face each other again.
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Among them, reaching a voting intention of at least 3% in two national polls or alternatively 3% in a national poll plus 3% in two polls in two of the states that first hold primaries (Iowa, New Hampshire , South Carolina and Nevada).
They have passed that goal Mike Pence, former US vice president; Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida; businessman Vivek Ramaswamy; Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the UN and former governor of South Carolina; Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey; Tim Scott, Senator from South Carolina; and Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota.
It was not surpassed by Asa Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas, that in August he did participate in the first date.
The challenge for the rest is to distance themselves from Trump, which, however, is announced at the Republican convention of California from September 29 to October 1.
“Although several of them have been mentioned as possible vice presidential candidates, they should make it clear that they are not interested and that they only want to be at the top of the Republican presidential nomination.”the Political Science expert from the University of Michigan, Aaron Kall, emphasizes to Efe.
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That they are relegated to an eventual second place is no coincidence. According to the average of surveys prepared by the FiveThirtyEight website, Trump has no rivals in the Republican caucus: he accumulates 55.1% of voting intentions in the conservative primarieswell ahead of the next two, DeSantis (13.3%) and Ramaswamy (5.9%).
“You have to wonder if this is a national debate or not, because no one is paying attention. “Trump monopolizes everything 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”adds Thomas Whalen, political expert and associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Boston University.
But Republican Party spokesman Jaime Florez He downplayed that role. “We are faced with the possibility of candidates presenting policies, ideas and projects to address the country’s problems, regardless of who ultimately assumes leadership,” he explained to Efe.
Those present should take advantage of the focus to stand out and that attention on the networks and other media boost both your electoral positioning and the donations received in the following weeks.
In the 2020 elections, California went for Biden with 63.48% of the votes.
For Florez, Democrats are “trying to cover the Sun with a finger”. “They believe they can continue to deceive people with lies and inaccuracies, but in the polls we see Trump already with a significant advantage because people are very upset with the current administration due to the economy and border insecurity.”
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From the Democratic side, however, they are accused of hypocrisy.
The president of the democratic party, Jaime Harrison criticized this week that the conservatives presume to be on the side of the workers but “abandon the unionists”or that they talk about fiscal responsibility but “increase the deficit to give their donors big tax cuts.”
*With EFE
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