Former President Donald Trump has recently announced that he will seek the Republican Party nomination for the presidency in 2024. Trump was defeated by President Biden in 2020 by a margin of 74 electoral college votes and approximately 7 million votes. 

Most recently, Trump has made headlines for taking meetings with white supremacists and antisemites while also receiving some blame for the Republican’s failures in the midterms.

Trump’s announcement has evoked diverse feelings from Saint Anselm’s College Republicans, with Spokesman and Senior Patrick Marcoux saying, “I believe the club’s reaction is a bit mixed. I mean, there’s obviously a division in the party, and that is reflected by the members of the club.”

 He adds, “I believe it’s mixed because it is kind of an early announcement, and it hasn’t been well received from what we can tell from the general Republican audience. It does seem to come on the heels of very unsatisfactory results in the midterms.”

Republicans heavily underperformed in the 2022 midterm election, with many political analysts predicting a red wave. Marcoux, at first, sang the praises of members of the club, saying, “A lot of our members were very active in the midterm election cycle here in the state, and they work their hearts out, and I know a lot of those candidates didn’t win. I think a lot of those campaigns that didn’t win had a lot of good candidates among them.” 

He would later add that “Trump picked candidates who are far more right than the general population of the United States, and I think because of that his candidates suffered,” adding, “I’m sorry crazy doesn’t equal electoral votes.”

Looking torward to the 2024 election, polling site FiveThirtyEight has posted a poll from The Economist, which shows Trump leading Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by the margin of 36% to 30%. Former Vice President Mike Pence holds 8% of the returns. The poll also indicates Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Josh Hawley of Missouri with 3% each. 

According to Marcoux, College Republicans do not have a preferred candidate. However, they are “happy to have a wide range of candidates heading into 2024. We believe that the more candidates on that stage, the better the options are, and the more likely we will get a candidate who represents the majority of Americans.”

Democrats, who outperformed in the midterm election, are somewhat concerned by this announcement from the Former President, with College Democrats President James Maloney saying, “Democrats were able to beat Trump, but just look at the effects from that. January 6th was a crazy event that proved how closely Trump supporters are connected to him; frankly, it’s a scary thing.” 

January 6th was massively disruptive to the electoral process and still has repercussions even today. Maloney adds, “I think it could definitely happen again where Trump loses the nomination or the election and that process is disrupted again based on the passion of his supporters.”

President Biden defeated Trump with 81 million votes, the largest number of votes in history. Maloney speaks of a rematch with some hesitation, saying, “Biden’s not the most popular guy in the party, but he’s what we got; he’s what we voted for, and frankly, some of us are disappointed.” 

Maloney took the opportunity to critique his own party, “There were so many democrats in 2020 that were like, ‘I’m going to take on Trump,’ and there were a lot of candidates seeking the nomination, which took away votes from the better candidates.”

Another concern from the College Democrats and Maloney is Trump’s unpredictability. Maloney adds, “One day, everyone is ready to move on and forget about him, and then he comes back. We’ve discussed a lot of potentials, but I think Trump represents a truly small portion of Americans now. I think it is a real possibility that Americans have had enough of him.”

The 2024 Presidential election is a long way away, and Trump’s first stop will have to be New Hampshire as the state still plays host to the First in The Nation Primary. His former VP has frequented the state since 2020, with Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan also making an appearance at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics for Politics and Eggs. 

New Hampshire’s Governor, Chris Sununu, avoided questions from ABC’s David Muir on whether he had any presidential ambitions after his re-election to the state’s corner office.