They were people like Kim Mitchell, 62, who lives in Canyon Lake, Texas, and was overjoyed to be seeing Trump in person. She and her husband have been longtime supporters; a Trump flag hangs proudly in his automotive garage. And if Trump goes through with another run, they both say they’ll support him.

But Mitchell said she could see the benefits of a less polarizing alternative.

“You know, there’s several people out there that seem to have the same beliefs that he does. And people don’t hate them,” she said, blaming Biden’s victory on a combination of election fraud — which election officials and courts have rejected — and the visceral dislike Trump inspires. “I hate to say that because I feel like I’m being disloyal.”…

Longtime GOP pollster Frank Luntz, who has conducted focus groups of voter opinion, said Republicans have fractured into three distinct blocs: those who have moved on from Trump, those who “will follow him off a cliff,” and those who “really appreciate him, follow him, are still strongly favorable towards him,” but are looking for another option.

“He still has a core of somewhere between one-third and 40% that will vote for him no matter what,” Luntz said. “But it is now a minority. It was the majority up until six months ago. But it is now the minority.”