Would Trump win GOP nomination if he runs again? Romney says it would be a ‘landslide’

Sen. Mitt Romney predicts former President Donald Trump would win the Republican nomination if he were to run for office again in the 2024 election.

Romney, a Republican from Utah, said Tuesday that Trump has “by far the largest voice” in the party and that he’s “pretty sure” he would win the GOP nomination based on what early polling has shown, according to an interview with The New York Times DealBook DC Policy Project.

“I look at the polls, and the polls show that the names being floated as potential contenders in 2024 — if you put Trump in there among Republicans, he wins in a landslide,” Romney told the Times.

Trump has long floated another presidential run since losing his bid for reelection in November and has reportedly considered forming his own political party.

He’s set to make his first major address and public appearance since leaving office at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday.

And while Republican lawmakers remain divided on Trump’s future role in the party following his second impeachment and eventual acquittal in the U.S. Senate, some polling has shown the former president still has a tight hold on GOP voters.

A Politico/Morning Consult conducted Feb. 14-15 found 54% of Republicans surveyed would back Trump in the Republican primary if he were to run.

That’s compared to the 12% who say they would support former Vice President Mike Pence, 6% who say they would support former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, 6% who say they would support Donald Trump Jr., 4% who say they would support Romney and 3% who say they would support Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

None of the potential contenders for 2024 have officially announced intentions to run for president yet.

The 54% of Republicans who say they would vote for Trump is up from 42% in another Morning Consult poll conducted Jan. 8-11, shortly after the attack on the U.S. Capitol during which a mob in support of Trump stormed the building as Congress was certifying then-President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

The poll also found that 59% of Republicans said they want Trump to play a big role in the party, up 18 percentage points from the January poll.

Another poll, conducted by Gallup from Jan. 21-Feb. 2, found 60% of Republicans want Trump to continue to be the leader of the party while 38% want a new leader.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and longtime Trump ally, also made predictions about Trump’s future in the Republican party earlier this week, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity he believes Trump will “lead the Republican party on policy” over the next few months, unify the GOP and energize it to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in 2022.

“I’ve never felt better about President Trump’s leading the party than I do right now,” Graham said.

But while Romney, a frequent critic of Trump, told the Times he expects Trump to “continue playing a role” in the party, he said he would not support him.

Romney voted to convict Trump in both of his Senate impeachment trials — the only Republican to do so.

In 2020, he was the sole member of his party to vote in favor of convicting Trump on impeachment charges related to accusations that he leveraged aid to pressure Ukrainian officials to investigate Biden.

Earlier this month, six other Republicans joined him to vote in favor of convicting Trump — who repeatedly made false claims that the election was fraudulent — of inciting an insurrection after the House impeached him the wake of the Jan. 6 attack.

Following the attack, some lawmakers who blamed the siege on Trump’s rhetoric surrounding the election sought avenues to prevent him from holding office again, including impeachment. If Trump had been convicted, senators could have then voted by a simple majority to bar him from doing so.

Romney told the Times that if Trump runs in 2024, he would not vote for him.

“I haven’t voted for him in the past and I would probably be getting behind somebody who I thought more represented the tiny wing of the Republican party that I represent,” he said.