Trump is yet to choose a running mate for 2024 despite almost certainly having the race in the bag at this point, and the competition between the candidates Trump has admitted are on his shortlist for the race is heating up as rumors swirl. Amongst those on his list is South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who reportedly met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, February 26.
News on that comes from Henry Rodgers, a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. He posted about the matter on X, noted that Gov. Noem met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on the afternoon of February 26. Rodgers said, “NEW: A source familiar tells me South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who is rumored to be on the VP shortlist, met with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago today. @DailyCaller”
The visit would make sense, as a February 23 Kaplan Strategies poll found that among voters in the swing state of Michigan, one Trump probably needs to win in 2024, Noem was the top pick. In a statement on what the poll found, Doug Kaplan said, “Donald J. Trump is the preference for President and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is the preferred pick for his running mate in a newly released poll of Michigan voters conducted by Kaplan Strategies on February 23, 2024.”
Continuing, the statement went on to note that voters have leaned toward Trump and away from Biden, saying, “Among those polled, 46 percent had a “very unfavorable” view of President Joe Biden. When asked who they would vote for if the presidential election were to be held today, former President Donald Trump bests President Joe Biden by a 10% margin with respondents favoring Trump 46% to 36%.”
It then added that Noem was far and away the most popular of the likely VP choices, saying, “Of the potential vice-presidential nominees for the Trump ticket, Kristi Noem, had the highest favorability rating, with 39 percent of voters holding a very or somewhat favorable view of Noem. After Noem, 33 percent of voters hold a favorable view of Ben Carson and Ron DeSantis. While 29 percent hold a favorable view of Vivek Ramaswamy. Senator JD Vance had a 16% approval rate, while Congresswoman Elise Stetanik from New York garnered a 14% approval.”
Further, she helped improve Trump’s chances of winning, the poll found. Noting as much, the statement provided, “When Governor Noem was added to the Trump ticket, respondents favored the Trump/Noem ticket with 48% over the Biden/Harris ticket at 36%. No other potential Vice Presidential candidate positively impacted the results for President Trump.”
Similarly, a poll conducted during CPAC 2024, one probably more representative of the MAGA base than a swing state like Michigan, found that Noem tied with Ramaswamy in top place for the 2024 VP slot amongst those polled, indicating that she would be an acceptable pick for the base, even if some remain upset over her more moderate stances on some issues. Further, as a woman, Noem could help win over some of the suburban women who have drifted away from the Republican party because of their dislike of Trump.
Featured image: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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