Donald Trump suffers huge vote against him in Maryland, Nebraska

Donald Trump is continuing to see possible warning signs for his White House bid as significant numbers of people are still voting against him in the GOP primary.

On Tuesday, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate continued his domination in the primaries with resounding victories in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia, winning 80 percent, 79.6 percent and 88.4 percent of the votes in the respective states.

However, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race two months ago, is still receiving a notable number of votes against the former president, winning 20 percent of the vote in Maryland, or more than 47,500 votes, and 17.8 percent in Nebraska, which amounts to nearly 37,000 ballots.

The Context

While Trump easily secured the GOP presidential nomination, winning all but two of the primary races, there have been signs that the former president is struggling to fully win over Republicans beyond his MAGA base as waves of voters continue to support Haley.

Haley was seen as a more moderate Republican candidate in the GOP primary, with moderates and independents seen as potentially vital to Trump’s hopes of taking back the White House from President Joe Biden in November.

There have been multiple polls which suggest that Haley supporters will not go on to vote for Trump in the 2024 election, with Biden’s campaign team also said to be hoping to win over these disillusioned Republicans.

What We Know

The results in Maryland and Nebraska continue the trend of Haley still receiving sizable votes in the GOP primary despite dropping out of the race in March in the wake of Super Tuesday.

On May 7, Trump easily won the Indiana primary with 78.3 percent of the vote, with Haley receiving 21.7 percent of the vote, a total that amounted to more than 128,000 votes.

Similar potentially worrying results for Trump were seen in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, where Haley received more than 158,000 votes (16.6 percent). Trump was beaten in Pennsylvania by Biden in 2020 by a margin of just over one percent (80,555 votes).

Haley also received more than 26 percent and 18 percent of the GOP primary vote in the key swing states of Michigan and Arizona respectively, amounting to hundreds of thousands of votes.

Views

Wajahat Ali, columnist and co-host of the Democracy-ish podcast, wrote sharing the Maryland results: “A lot of Dems are frustrated with Biden but same goes for Republicans and Trump. The fact Haley scored this much support in another primary should be concerning for Trump.”

Former news anchor Ed Greenberger said: “Maryland is a closed primary. These are actual Republicans voting, and [nearly] a quarter of them chose Haley.

“It’s the same all over America. It’s impossible to believe Trump can win with these numbers—despite what the polls say.”

What Next

The GOP Kentucky caucus and Oregon primary will be held on May 21.

The Republican National Convention, where Trump will be confirmed as the 2024 nominee, will take place in Milwaukee in July.