The overwhelming majority of Republican voters, 91%, said in a CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday that they want GOP presidential candidates in next week’s first debate to make the case for themselves rather than go after Donald Trump.
Republican primary voters indicated they’ve been hearing candidates talk just as much or more about topics related to the former president as other topics like the economy or cultural issues.
The same survey found that Mr. Trump’s lead has grown even wider over the rest of the field as Republican voters largely dismiss the various state and federal indictments against him. Mr. Trump had 62% support with the next leading candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at just 16%. The remaining candidates were in the single digits.
Mr. Trump is not expected to participate in Wednesday’s debate in Milwaukee because of his commanding lead. Instead, he’s set to conduct an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to air during the debate.
The CBS/YouGov poll was conducted Aug. 16-18 among 2,061 adults. The Republican primary voters accounted for 538. The margin of error was plus or minus 5.7 percentage points.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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