GOP Voters: 57 Percent Say Trump Should Debate Republican Candidates

May 24, 2023: Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Republicans say that Donald Trump should debate other Republican primary candidates. A Scott Rasmussen national survey found that just 26% say it is appropriate for him to skip the debates.

The survey also found that 63% of Democrats think the Democratic Party should schedule primary debates between the president and other candidates. Just 19% believe they should not.

Methodology

The survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on May 9-11, 2023. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation's population of registered voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population.

The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Note: Neither Scott Rasmussen, ScottRasmussen.com, nor RMG Research, Inc. have any affiliation with Rasmussen Reports. While Scott Rasmussen founded that firm, he left nearly a decade ago and has had no involvement since that time.

Survey Questions

(Asked of Republicans and Republican leaners) Recent media reports have suggested that Donald Trump is likely to skip one or more Republican primary debates. Is it appropriate for him to skip the debates, or should he agree to debate other Republican primary candidates?

● 26%-Appropriate for him to skip the debates

● 57%-Should debate other Republican primary candidates

● 17%-Not sure

(Asked of Democrats and Democratic leaners) The Democratic Party has not scheduled any primary debates which means that President Biden will not have to debate any Democratic primary challengers. Should the Democratic Party schedule debates between the President and other primary candidates?

● 63%-Yes

● 19%-No

● 18%-Not sure

Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is a political analyst, author, public speaker, independent public opinion pollster and columnist for Creators Syndicate. Read Scott Rasmussen's Reports — More Here.