For much of the past four years, Sen. Rob Portman has had to answer questions about former President Donald Trump's behavior, tweets and personal attacks on other politicians.
So when Trump makes his first post-presidential speech Sunday afternoon at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Portman hopes it's more about policy than personalities, the Republican from Terrace Park told George Stephanopolous Sunday morning on ABC This Week.
While Republicans love Trump, Portman said, the Republican policies are more popular than the former president.
Stephanopolous asked Portman whether Trump's dominance in the Republican Party is a blessing or a burden.
Portman, who is retiring at the end of his term, didn't say whether Trump was either.
"He's very popular among Republicans, and the polling all shows that," Portman said. "I do think the policies are what's even more popular. That's why the Republicans did pretty well in 2020, other than the presidential level."
Almost half of the 1,000 Trump voters surveyed by USA Today in February said they'd abandon the GOP if Trump started a third political party.
Portman said Trump has an opportunity tonight to talk about the successes over the past four years, such as the strong economy, building up the military and other issues.
But can Republicans talk about those issues with Trump in the lead?
"It sometimes makes it more difficult," Portman said. "But look, he has an opportunity today to talk about his accomplishments. I mean, instead of talking about personalities and who might not have agreed with him on the impeachment process, talk about which it did."
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