Polls showing that former President Donald Trump's numbers ahead of President Joe Biden's just 10 months into the new presidency are "great news," former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates said on Newsmax Thursday, adding that he hopes the numbers remain high through the 2022 midterms and into a potential 2024 presidential race.
However, he stressed during a panel discussion on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," the numbers reflect that there are many issues that are important to Americans and that Biden's record on those matters is under attack.
"Right now, it's very easy to attack Joe Biden's record, as bad as it is," said Gates. "These poll numbers are higher than some of the numbers we saw in 2016. All this being equal right now, if the election was today, it would be a great win for Republicans all around."
On Tuesday, a poll obtained by Politico shows the former president leading in several states he lost to Biden in the 2020 race, including by 8 points in Arizona; 3 points in Georgia, 12 points in Michigan, 6 points in Pennsylvania, and 10 points in Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, Biden and first lady Jill Biden are spending Thanksgiving at the home of billionaire businessman David Rubenstein on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The Bidens have been spending the holiday for several decades on Nantucket, and have stayed at Rubenstein's mansion before.
The New York Times reports that Rubenstein, who co-founded the private equity firm Carlyle Group, is traveling abroad.
Gates on Thursday told Newsmax that he had thought that after the tragedy Sunday in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where several people are still hospitalized after a man ran over them during a Christmas parade Sunday, killing six, Biden may have changed his holiday plans.
"He's been going to Nantucket for about 35 years for Thanksgiving, so it's a Biden family tradition," said Gates. "You can go to Nantucket for Thanksgiving. It's a beautiful place. But after what happened Sunday in Waukesha, I thought to myself on Monday [that] maybe he'll forego the trip or he'll delay it. He didn't. He went early. It's another missed opportunity."
He added that he doesn't think anyone begrudges the president being with his family, but "you don't need to be a family on a $13 million estate. You could be anywhere across the country, and I think it shows how out of touch he is."
Biden has been in politics for more than 45 years, said Gates, but his holiday plans show him as having "ignored the people that really mattered … that's why you see these poll numbers that you just showed. That's exactly what you're going to continue to see them slide."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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