Nearly a quarter of Republican voters said that they want President Donald Trump to run for a third term in 2028, despite his being ineligible, according to a new poll.
According to the most recent Emerson College poll, that while 30% would vote for Vice President-elect JD Vance in a hypothetical 2028 Republican primary, 23% want Trump to run for a third term. Another 28% were undecided. The poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters between November 20-22, and has a margin of error of 3%.
As it stands, the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits a president from holding the office twice. An exception is made if a president is replaced with less than two years left of their term. For example, President Lyndon Johnson replaced John F. Kennedy in 1963 with a year left to his term. Johnson won in 1964, and could have run again in 1968, but chose not to. The only president to serve more than two terms is Franklin Roosevelt, who was elected four times in a row prior to the 22nd Amendment being ratified.
Despite the constitutional prohibition, Trump has repeatedly made comments about running again. A common refrain during his rallies during his first term was that he'd never leave the White House. And just last week, he again made a reference to a 2028 run in a meeting with House Republicans, according to The Hill.
“I suspect I won’t be running again, unless you do something,” Trump said. “Unless you say, ‘He’s so good, we have to just figure it out.’”
This summer during his campaign, at a Christian summit he told people that if they voted for him to win the 2024 election, "you won't have to do do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians."
However, in an interview on Fox News, Trump said he was referring specifically for voting for him, not voting in general, according to the Guardian.
“That statement is very simple, I said, ‘Vote for me, you’re not gonna have to do it ever again,’” Trump said. “It’s true, because we have to get the vote out. Christians are not known as a big voting group, they don’t vote. And I’m explaining that to them. You never vote. This time, vote. I’ll straighten out the country, you won’t have to vote any more, I won’t need your vote any more, you can go back to not voting.”
In the interview, he said that he would leave after his second term was up, adding "I did last time," referring to his loss in the 2020 election. While that is true, he constantly claimed that the election was "stolen," leading Trump supporters to raid the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to stop the electoral votes from being certified, formalizing President Joe Biden's win.