Love him or hate him, he's back.
Former US President Donald Trump is emerging as the frontrunner to secure the Republican Party's presidential nomination for 2024, following his victory in the New Hampshire primaries.
He triumphed over his remaining contenders, former South Carolina governor and former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
While Trump didn't win by the margins anticipated by recent polls, it's enough to maintain his current lead in the race, especially considering his overwhelming victory in the party caucuses in Iowa.
In Iowa, his win garnered more votes than all other candidates combined, leading to the subsequent withdrawal of all his opponents from the race except one.
As the New Hampshire primaries loomed, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson, and Chris Christie bowed out, leaving only Donald Trump and Nikki Haley to battle it out.
While the race for the 60th President of the United States nomination is still in its early days, Trump's victory signals that his popularity remains unwavering among Republicans.
When asked why she wanted to see the former president return to office, one of Trump's supporters in Iowa stated, "He will work to restore the economy to its natural state and bring gas prices back down."
She's not alone in this sentiment. The economy was a key message in the Trump team's campaign. Eric, Trump's son, told, "People want prosperity and strength for this country. My father had the greatest economy in the nation's history, with the lowest unemployment rate, lowest inflation, and lowest gas prices."
Indeed, the American economy was in good shape when Trump was in power before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, there were times when the economy was much stronger, continuing the trend that began during the Democratic Obama administration. Naturally, it suffered the biggest economic contraction ever recorded as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During President Biden's tenure, the war in Ukraine led to an increase in energy costs and inflation reached its highest level in 40 years, although it has now significantly decreased. The economy proved to be stronger than expected last year.
Mark Lotter, former communications director for Trump's 2020 campaign, told that the records of both men serve Trump: "The only thing Joe Biden didn't have in 2020, when I worked on the Trump campaign, was a record," he added. "Now he has a record, but people don't like it."
Billy Blathras, a Trump supporter, sees Trump as a "dynamic leader." He says, "We saw what he did in his first term. We want that back. We've seen the decline our country has experienced under President Biden."
"We really want that enthusiastic support for the American people that Trump brought when he was in the White House."
Trump's business background and his fame, not just his political background, are also key factors, according to another supporter in Iowa: "This country doesn't need another politician to run it. I believe the best candidate will be someone who knows how to manage business affairs."
Many Republicans see Trump's larger-than-life personality as a stark contrast to President Biden's, whom his critics have dubbed "Sleepy Joe" after cameras caught him dozing off during the COP26 climate conference.
With President Joe Biden as the likely Democratic nominee for the November elections, a rematch between him and Trump seems more likely.
However, the last time they faced off, Biden emerged victorious in the elections.
Trump's Immigration Rhetoric: "Poisoning the Nation"
When Trump declared that immigrants were "poisoning our country's blood" during an interview with the right-wing news outlet "The National Pulse" in October, President Biden accused him of echoing what he heard in Nazi Germany.
"Trump said that if he returned to office, he would go after anyone who opposes him and get rid of those he considers pests in America - a specific and defined phrase."
President Biden added, according to the White House transcript: "It reflects the language you heard in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. And this is not the first time."
Historians and experts who studied Nazi propaganda told the BBC that President Biden's comparison was accurate. Anne Berg, a historian at the University of Pennsylvania, cited attacks by the Nazis, once they seized power, on political opponents: "We heard not only such language in Nazi Germany, but this is exactly what they did."
However, a CBS poll found that Republican Party supporters backed his comments.
people asked registered Republican voters whether they agreed with Trump's statement or disagreed with it. Half of the participants in the poll were asked about the "poisoned blood" comment without attributing the speech to any individual, while the other half were informed that Trump said it.
In both cases, most Republican voters agreed with the statement, with 72 percent agreeing with the statement without attributing the speech, and 82 percent agreeing when the statement was attributed to Trump, indicating that his stance on immigration still resonates with supporters.
Stronger Support from American Youth
Recent unexpected support for Trump signals that he may outperform Biden among young voters. A poll published by The New York Times and Siena College in mid-December showed him leading by six percentage points among voters aged 18 to 29.
Experts are analyzing this clear shift, which indicates a significantly different picture from what happened in the 2020 elections, where Trump trailed Biden by 24 percentage points among the same age group.
This trend could be explained partly by Biden's failure to connect with younger voters and indications that they feel disillusioned not only with his handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict but also with Trump's popularity.
However, Mary Weston, head of the Young Republicans group in Iowa, told that she believes young Republicans are attracted to Trump because of his stage presence: "You find yourself in awe of how he acts and speaks."
Mary, now 23, was still in high school when he took office. She says that many people "mocked and annoyed" her for supporting him.
But she believes that "his defense of what he believes in" and "his willingness to be as he wants to be" attract young voters.
She adds that the accusations against him mean that "many of his popular base wanted to stand by him, to prove to the Democrats that we still support him."
Legal Issues Considered "Persecution"
Donald Trump has faced criminal charges four times, and he will have a series of trials to attend in 2024 during his re-election campaign for the White House.
He has been sued in New York and charged in Georgia, Florida, Manhattan, and Washington, where federal prosecutors and state attorneys have initiated several investigations.
Lawsuits in several states also seek to disqualify Trump from the presidential race, arguing that he participated in the insurrection during the Capitol riot three years ago.
While we might expect pending legal issues to deter supporters, veteran pollster Frank Luntz told that it actually helps Trump's case:
He added, "Every time he faces an accusation, his numbers rise. And every time they try to pull him out of the ballot – in my home state of Maine and in Colorado – his numbers go up. Every time he exploits it. We've never seen anyone like him in America before."
It's worth noting that despite Trump's success, a Fox News analysis of voter trends indicates that 32 percent of those who participated in the Republican primary in New Hampshire will not vote for him in the general election in November.
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