Nearly 60 per cent of Americans think Donald Trump running for president is a bad thing, poll finds

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At least 57 per cent of Americans think Donald Trump running for the White House in 2024 is a bad idea, just a week after he announced his intentions of returning to the office.

Nearly six in 10 Americans said Mr Trump's election bid is a bad thing, while just 34 per cent in favour of his decision, according to a new poll conducted by Quinnipiac University.

Mr Trump, the twice-impeached former president who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election, launched his campaign last Tuesday to try to return to the White House for a second time.

“In order to make America great and glorious again I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” he declared from his Mar-a-Lago estate.

“America’s comeback starts right now,” he added.

Mr Trump made the announcement in the wake of the conservative Republican party’s failure to materialise a predicted “red wave” in the mid-term elections. The GOP lost the Senate to the Democrats and was able to take over the House of Representatives by only a narrow margin, leading to conflict within the party.

The poll found nearly 55 per cent of Americans think Mr Trump has had a negative impact on the Republican party, while 37 per cent think he has had a mainly positive impact.

“An underwhelming welcome back to the political battlefield for Donald Trump comes with a mixed message,” said Tim Malloy, a polling analyst for the university.

The former president’s numbers among Democrats were unsurprisingly poor, with 88 per cent saying that his campaign launch was concerning.

At least 58 per cent of independent voters said his election bid was a bad thing, with nearly 27 per cent of Republicans agreeing with the statement.

Roughly a third of Americans – 35 per cent – consider themselves supporters of Mr Trump’s Maga movement, while 60 per cent do not consider themselves supporters, the poll found.

Nearly 49 per cent of American voters think it is very likely Mr Trump will win another presidential election.

Meanwhile, 60 per cent of Republicans said they would like Florida governor Ron DeSantis to run for president, while roughly a quarter of those polled said they didn’t.