Former President Donald Trump took an impromptu poll from a rally crowd in Pennsylvania Saturday on whether he should participate in the GOP primary debates, the first of which is scheduled for next month.
Trump got a mixed reaction as he weighed the political benefits of putting himself on the stage with “hostile” opponents against the sheer entertainment value of doing so.
“Am I going to stand up there with [candidates who are] zero, one, two, three percent, maybe four [in the polls] … and have them ask me hostile questions?” he asked the Erie crowd. “And if I don’t go to the debate … they say that ratings are going to be really bad.”
“But now put on your political cap, right? We have to save our country. We have to win. Should I get up there with 10 or 12 hostile people and a hostile network and be abused with terrible accusations?” he continued.
“We’ll see what happens; I haven’t made a commitment one way or the other. Should I do them or not?” he asked.
The 45th president then asked his supporters to cheer yes or no for whether he should do the debates to an audibly split reaction.
“You people just want entertainment,” Trump said, smirking.
The first Republican Primary debate is set to take place on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention will be held in 2024.
It will be broadcast on Fox News and moderated by anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
Trump is the by and large frontrunner in the crowded Republican field, despite facing two indictments with a third indictment expected.
According to the latest national polling data compiled by FiveThirtyEight, Trump holds a commanding lead at 52.4%, far ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 15.5%, Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 6.8%, and former Vice President Mike Pence at 4.8%.
They are trailed by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (3.1%), South Carolina Senator Tim Scott (2.9%) and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (2.4%).
To participate in the debate, candidates must meet the threshold requirements established by the Republican National Committee.
Candidates must secure donations from at least 40,000 national contributors and poll consistently above 1 percent in three national polls or two national polls and a state poll, according to Politico.
They additionally need donations “from at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in 20+ states and/or territories,” per the guidelines.
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