Sen. Mitt Romney recently made his debut in the nation’s capital by penning an op-ed in the Washington Post on Jan. 1 that vilified President Trump, who endorsed Mr. Romney during his 2012 presidential run. A new poll suggests the move is not sitting well with Republican voters.
“Mitt Romney may have pleased Democrats and the media with his recent op-ed criticizing President Trump, but Republican voters by a better than two-to-one margin line up with the president,” says a new Rasmussen Reports poll.
It reveals that 63 percent of likely Republican voters think the Republican Party should be “more like Trump than like Romney.”
Another 29 percent say the GOP should be more like Mr. Romney, who the pollster bills as “the party’s failed 2012 presidential candidate, now a freshman U.S. senator from Utah.”
Much of the news media praised Mr. Romney for the opinion writing — and suggested that the Utah lawmaker was laying the groundwork for another bid for the White House. Rumors also surfaced that a “unity ticket” consisting of former Vice President Joe Biden and Mr. Romney was in the works for 2020.
But the op-ed sparked criticism.
“It’s clear Romney will be a destructive force in the Senate, playing to the liberal media which will praise him and seeking to create a pathway to the presidency,” said Fox News host Mark Levin after the work was published.
“I’m disappointed in Mitt Romney. His defining act as an incoming Senator is to criticize President Trump,” tweeted Ari Fleischer, who served as White House press secretary for George W. Bush.
The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted Jan. 6-7.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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