Former President Donald Trump will close out the Republican National Convention on Thursday night with a speech accepting the party’s presidential nomination.
Speaking to the Washington Examiner, Trump said his speech was not the same one he planned to give. After narrowly surviving an assassination attempt last Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump will be giving a speech that calls on national unity and coming together.
“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” he said. “Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches,” aimed mostly at the policies of President Joe Biden. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”
CNN’s Abby Phillips and pollster Frank Luntz spoke about the speech and the massive enthusiasm at the RNC this week.
“Assassination attempt, Donald Trump is now set to take the stage here at the RNC tonight. Republican can, presidential nominee for the third straight time. Let‘s discuss this now with pollster and communications strategist Frank Luntz. Frank, it‘s been a couple of days after this really horrific event for not just Donald Trump, but the country. Are you seeing an impact of the assassination attempt and also now three going, on four straight days of a convention in which Republicans are really, really unified I‘ve never seen a convention like this,” Phillips asked.
“African Americans, working women, union members. There are people on stage that I‘m not used. I‘ve been coming to conventions since 1988. I‘ve never seen this before. Republicans literally dancing and the one thing I have to have to advise people is Republicans should not do it is what it is right now, I‘m also looking at the challenges on the democratic side. Yes. Biden run or not is the vice president ready to step up?” Luntz said.
“And I‘m still concerned about the health and safety of our democracy, about whether or not it‘s safe and secure, about whether people believe the votes will be counted, whether they believe that their voice is being heard and I‘m hoping that tonight‘s speech is one that Trump has communicated, unity, coming together, working together if we get that kind of speech, this will have been a very successful convention. And then it‘ll be up to the Democrats to follow suit,” Luntz added.
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This comes as a whopping 72 percent of voters believe Biden should not run for a second term, up nine points from February.
A recent CBS News/YouGov poll highlights potential concerns among voters about Biden’s ability to complete his term.
This survey will be one of the first post-debate polls that Democratic strategists and donors will examine to assess the impact of Biden’s debate performance on his candidacy.
Among Democrats, 46 percent said Biden should not be running for a second term, up 10 points since February. When pollsters asked respondents why Biden should not run, they answered:
–His age: 86 percent
–Decisions he might make in office: 71 percent
–His record as president: 66 percent
–Ability to campaign effectively: 59 percent
–Seventy-two percent of voters say Biden does not have the “mental” and “cognitive health” to serve, up from 65 percent since June 9.
“After the debate, some Democratic officials reportedly said Joe Biden should step aside as the nominee and give another Democrat a chance to run for president in 2024. That idea finds resonance with nearly half the nation’s rank-and-file Democrats,” CBS reported.
“That’s related to perceptions of Mr. Biden’s health: Democrats who don’t think Mr. Biden has the mental and cognitive health to serve are more likely to say he shouldn’t be the nominee. And that former number has increased among Democrats. It’s also gone up among independents,” the outlet added.
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