President Donald Trump shocked the country in 2016 when he defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Presidential election despite losing the popular vote after securing an electoral college victory.
After losing his next election in 2020, Trump responded in 2024 by winning both the electoral college and popular vote against Kamala Harris, once again defeating a candidate who was vying to become the first female President in United States history.
The victories cemented Trump’s status as an outsider who can infiltrate politics at the highest level. However, a new challenger seems to be stepping up to prove that he can do the impossible and take Washington by storm as well.
A McLaughlin & Associates poll, asked: “Thinking ahead to the 2028 Democratic primary election for President, if that election were held today among the following candidates, for whom would you vote?”
Surprisingly, ESPN’s star personality, Stephen A. Smith earned 2% of the vote among the 414 people polled.
Ahead of Smith in the poll were more typical politicians.
The aforementioned Kamala Harris came in first with 33%. Trailing Harris were former United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (9%), California Governor Gavin Newsom (7%), U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (6%), Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (3%), Minnesota Governor and 2024 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz (3%).
Smith got wind of the polling numbers and made a cheeky tweet in response.
https://t.co/sSpUi0hY2d pic.twitter.com/8Y6vMROewB
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) January 30, 2025
It’ll be interesting to see what sort of support Smith can garner should he decide to run and engage in an all-out campaign.
