Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that his own decision about whether to run for president in 2024 will not be influenced by whether or not former president Trump chooses to run.
“We’re trying to think our way though, figuring out what’s next for us,” Pompeo told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “But what happens today or tomorrow, what some other person decides won’t have any impact on that [decision].”
Trump said last week that he will make a “very big announcement” on November 15 at Mar-a-Lago. He is expected to announce his 2024 presidential bid. However, support for the former president appears to be dwindling after a promised red wave failed to materialize on Election Day.
Pompeo said Tuesday that Trump would need to “explain why he thinks he should be that next president” and talk about “things that matter to the American people.”
“I served in the administration, I’m proud of the policies we laid out,” Pompeo said. “We need more seriousness, we need less noise, we need steady hands, we need leaders that are looking forward, not staring in the rearview mirror claiming victimhood.”
Pompeo said he plans to decide whether to run in 2024 by the spring.
Several post-midterm polls have shown Florida governor Ron DeSantis surging ahead of Trump as a 2024 frontrunner.
A new YouGov survey of 413 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents found that 42 percent want DeSantis to be the party’s 2024 presidential nominee, while 35 percent would prefer Trump. The same poll conducted in mid-October found Trump with 45 percent support, leading DeSantis by ten points
DeSantis led Trump by eleven points in a new poll of likely Republican primary voters by the Republican Party of Texas.
The survey, conducted by CWS Research on November 12 and 13 among likely GOP voters statewide, asked respondents, “If the upcoming 2024 Republican Primary for president were held today, and the candidates were Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley and Mike Pence, for whom would you vote?”
Forty-three percent of respondents said they would support DeSantis, while Trump followed in second with 32 percent of the vote. Thirteen percent of respondents said they were undecided, while 5 percent said they would support Pence.
Just 1 percent of respondents said they would support Pompeo.
When voters were ask to choose a candidate from that same group, minus Trump, 66 percent of voters said they would support DeSantis, 16 percent said they would be undecided, 8 percent said they’d support Pence and 5 percent said they’d support Haley. Three percent said they would support Pompeo.
The results come after a similar poll conducted by CWS Research on behalf of Defend Texas Liberty PAC 2022 last month had Trump up 17 points on DeSantis.