(PatrioticPost.com)- NeverTrumpers who hoped that Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat would put an end to his influence in the Republican Party got some bad news last week.
A Pew Research Center survey released last week found that two-thirds (67 percent) of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents say that they would like to see former President Donald Trump continue to be a major political figure for many years to come.
This is a ten-point increase from Pew’s January survey which found that 57 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning Independents wanted Trump to continue to be a major political figure.
Of the 67 percent, 44 percent also said they would like Trump to run for President again in 2024. Twenty-two percent said that while they want Trump to continue being a major political figure, they would prefer he use his influence to support other presidential candidates in 2024 rather than run for office himself.
The other third of respondents (32 percent) do not want Trump to remain a national political figure.
This is a unique poll in that the majority of Republican and Republican-leaning Independents (54 percent) do not want Trump running again in 2024.
The responses vary depending on age, education and ideology.
Among Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents with some college or less, 72 percent say Trump should continue to be a major political figure. Among those with college degrees, however, only 54 percent say he should. Of those, just 28 percent of the college-educated want Trump to run again in 2024.
Conservatives broadly support Trump remaining a major political figure (75 percent). Of those 49 percent of conservatives say he should run in 2024.
Moderate or Liberal Republicans, however, are more divided. Only 51 percent want him to have an ongoing political role, and of those only 33 percent say he should run in 2024.
Pew also asked Democrats and Democrat-leaning Independents if they wanted Trump to remain a major national political figure in the future. Unsurprisingly 92 percent would not while just 7 percent said they would.
The Pew survey was conducted from September 13 to 19.
