When it comes to acquiring an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, Republican national pollster Frank Luntz said "just as it helps you in a Republican primary, it hurts you in a general election."
Monday morning, Luntz was featured on the MIRS Monday Podcast, where the first question out of the gate was regarding the April 23 endorsement convention to be hosted by the Michigan Republican Party in Grand Rapids.
On Saturday, April 2, the one-term president visited Washington Township to show off his personal picks for Michigan Attorney General and Secretary of State, Matt DePerno and Kristina Karamo.
As attendees entered the indoor soccer arena, a jumbo screen played advertisements for other Trump-approved candidates, like present-day U.S. Reps. Lisa McClain (R) and John Moolenaar (R) and the new congressional campaign for John James.
While Trump continues to praise "America First" devotees like Reps. Matt Maddock (R-Milford) and Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers), he also has a pool of candidates selected to defeat conservative incumbents he's labeled as Republicans In Name Only (RINOs) – often because they didn't boldly discredit nor combat the November 2020 election results.
"There are several cases that Trump has lost, but make no mistake, his backing matters, whether it's statewide or congressional or local," Luntz said. "Trump still has considerable sway over about 40% of the Republican Party. That number's been dropping in recent months, and I'm sure it will go lower as we move through 2022 and beyond, but he is the most significant individual."
BBC News once defined Luntz as a "pollster extraordinaire" for his influential analyses on politics and the business world. He will be this year's keynote speaker at the Michigan Political Leadership Program's annual dinner fundraiser on April 20 in Lansing.
On this morning's podcast, Luntz said he would argue that Trump's endorsement could be worth "as much as 5%, or even 10% of the vote, in a Republican primary that a primary could get that they otherwise wouldn't without that endorsement."
He said any candidate who seeks or obtains a Trump endorsement would "clearly" be doing so for "short-term gain."
"There are more people who would vote against you in Michigan statewide if you have the Trump endorsement than who would vote for you," he said.
Michigan's Republican nominations for Secretary of State and Attorney General, as well as for the state Supreme Court and Board of Education, will theoretically receive the party's backing during the endorsement convention. The formal nominating convention is set in state law for August.
At 7 p.m. on April 11, county conventions will be held to elect delegates to the statewide endorsement convention.
"Everyone of you delegates need to get to your county conventions. Donald Trump is still the leader of this party, and Donald Trump has come here today and said to everyone of you delegates, 'support Matt DePerno. Support Kristina Karamo,'" DePerno said this past Saturday. "Are you going to do that?"
While on stage with Trump, Karamo told him there's an army of "little MAGA warriors" across Michigan and "we're getting the job done."
Luntz said he hopes the country can soon enough return to a time when candidates running against each other were opponents and not enemies. However, when asked if his polling suggests individuals will soon call out the craziness of today's state of political polarization, he responded "unfortunately, no."
"I see it in the other direction, when the public comes to accept this. They don't like it, they don't appreciate it; but they've come to accept it, and that's a real problem," he said. "When you give up, then there's no chance of change."
Later today, both Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson fundraised off DePerno and Karamo's appearance in Washington Township. Nessel wrote that Trump “needs Matt DePerno in the AG's office to make sure he wins Michigan's electoral votes – even if he loses the state. Again.”
