Dear Horse Racers: The NR team will be enjoying some rest and relaxation with family next week, so there won't be a newsletter. We'll be back after the holidays to give you the latest GOP primary news.
Merry Christmas!
If history is any guide, the Colorado supreme court has likely just handed former president Donald Trump a boost in the 2024 polls.
The court ruled Tuesday that Trump is disqualified from holding the presidency because his actions in the wake of the 2020 election violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which forbids individuals who have "engaged in insurrection" from seeking federal office.
The decision — which will be stayed until January 4, pending an appeal to the Supreme Court — is likely to rally his supporters, just as his Manhattan indictment on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records did earlier this year.
The decision "will add 5%+ points to @realDonaldTrump already runaway polls," Eric Trump predicted on X. And New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman says those close to Trump see the ruling as "a gift."
New Hampshire–based GOP strategist Jim Merrill told me that, in the short term, the ruling is likely to cause the same "rallying around Trump effect" that prior legal proceedings have had both among his base and others in the Republican Party.
"It's just going to create that much more intensity to make sure they get out and support him in the early primary and caucus states," he said of Trump's supporters. But he predicted there won't be a huge increase in the polls for Trump since it will only cement support among his fans but likely won't attract new voters.
And as we near the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, the ruling will make it harder for the other candidates to get their message out, Merrill said.
"It makes it more of a challenge and ensures that most of every conversation — whether it's with media or with voters, Trump is going to be part of that conversation," he said.
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