2016 Election

[bsmooth]

Outside of people supporting Trump I think most everyone else is really in that category.

I have to say ...regardless of the picks it is surprising to me how close the voting is for Democrats and Republicans in here.  I wonder how many Trump supporters would typically vote Democrat?

YOur options are a Democrat or a Republican. There are other parties, and some people will consider to vote third party.

[Spider-Dan]

I know Democrats like to blame Republicans for what they are going through but I don't see it as a something that was built from Republicans. I see conservative and liberal posts all day long on Facebook and people in the middle are attracted to him. The politically correct police have created Trump. People are so fed up with being told what is right and what is wrong about offending people that someone like Trump only has to say things that piss other people off to get their support. People's number one reason for supporting Trump is "he tells it like it is" and "he sounds like me".

At the end of the day, it's the Republican primary that Trump is dominating, not the Democratic one.  If you're saying that Trump was created by a culture of backlash against "political correctness"... well, political correctness is not something that liberals complain about, so that seems to validate Dave's point.

Trump would not be winning the Democratic primary with talk of walls, deportations, and bans.   The only liberal-ish positions he has represented so far (at least at some time, because his positions "evolve" rapidly) are guaranteed healthcare, trade protectionism, and support for Planned Parenthood; Bernie shares all of those positions (and none of Trump's negatives, from a Dem perspective)... and Bernie is losing.

Ultimately, Trump is telling the Republican electorate what they want to hear.  The Republican establishment has subtly hinting at these ideas for decades; it is far too late for them to feign shock when Trump exchanges the dog whistles for a brass marching band.

[CF DolFan]

If you think Trump's fans are only Republicans either you haven't been paying attention or are just pretending to be ignorant. The numbers are big this year for the Republican nomination ... double or more in some elections and they aren't coming from the Republican base. They are coming from new voters or people outside the Republican party.

Below is a list of "open" primaries. The bold ones are the ones that Trump has won. Personally I don't understand why we have parties if anyone can nominate for those parties. It just seems stupid to me.

Alabama
Arkansas
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Massachusetts (All races' primaries open for "unenrolled"/unaffiliated voters only)
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
New Hampshire
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma (Only Democratic primary is open to Independent voters as of November 2015) [11]
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin[12]

[CF DolFan]

Here is an eye opening article written by The Guardian ... which is a very liberal paper.

'Not even my wife knows': secret Donald Trump voters speak out
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/03/secret-donald-trump-voters-speak-out

[Spider-Dan]

Below is a list of "open" primaries. The bold ones are the ones that Trump has won.

Alabama
Arkansas
Georgia
Massachusetts (All races' primaries open for "unenrolled"/unaffiliated voters only)
New Hampshire
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vermont
Virginia

That's not exactly an encouraging list to support your point.

If AL, AR, GA, SC, or TN are actively being contested, the race is already over.  Likewise for MA or VT.

VA (and maybe NH) qualify as swing states, but in those states:

- Bernie got over 50% more votes in NH than Trump did (and Hillary got 95% as many votes as Trump did while being blown out by Bernie), so it's hard to see where there was a huge number of non-conservatives jumping ship for Trump
- In VA, again, Hillary got 40% more votes than Trump, while Bernie got 75% as many votes while being blown out by Hillary

I'd also like to point out that primary (and especially caucus!) turnout is not much of an indicator of anything.  It simply does not have much of a correlation to what the general election will look like.

---

In the article you linked, of the 12 e-mails cited, the rationale for nearly half of them is quite intentionally that he'll be a disaster; two of these "Trump supporters" compared him to Hitler.  I guess it's possible that a majority of this country actually wants to elect someone they think will be the next Hitler, but I doubt it.  Call me a relentless optimist.

And there's a good chunk of those e-mails that reflect exactly what we've been saying: the fight against political correctness.

They don't want to hear about enhanced interrogation; they want us to torture terrorists.
They are uninterested in lowering immigration quotas from nations with known ties to terrorist groups; they want to ban all Muslims.

After decades of hearing Republican politicians describe conservative policies in carefully-couched terms like "states' rights" and "religious freedom," they are elated to finally have a politician who just says what they REALLY mean without worrying about what everyone will think.  That, in a nutshell, is what the fight against political correctness is about: the freedom to express positions that society no longer finds palatable, just as you could back in the old days.  It is one of the primary essences of conservatism.

[Rich]

And there's a good chunk of those e-mails that reflect exactly what we've been saying: the fight against political correctness.

They don't want to hear about enhanced interrogation; they want us to torture terrorists.
They are uninterested in lowering immigration quotas from nations with known ties to terrorist groups; they want to ban all Muslims.

After decades of hearing Republican politicians describe conservative policies in carefully-couched terms like "states' rights" and "religious freedom," they are elated to finally have a politician who just says what they REALLY mean without worrying about what everyone will think.  That, in a nutshell, is what the fight against political correctness is about: the freedom to express positions that society no longer finds palatable, just as you could back in the old days.  It is one of the primary essences of conservatism.

Ted Cruz seems to be winning the conservative vote more and more and Trump seems to be winning with a wide swath of Republicans as well as Independents and "blue collar" Democrats that have switched over. So I don't believe the demographics back up your theory at all.

I mean... are conservatives even allowed to enter Massachussets and Vermont?

[CF DolFan]

Unfortunately, that is a fairly regular occurrence when dealing with the hyper-religious right. Once you've convinced yourself that not only is God real, but that he loves you more than people of other religions, or people of no religion,

Anyone who tells you God loves them more than you isn't speaking about the God of the Bible. It's pretty clear Jesus died for all of us and all of our sins. He loves every single person regardless of how they reject Him.

[Sunstroke]

Anyone who tells you God loves them more than you isn't speaking about the God of the Bible. It's pretty clear Jesus died for all of us and all of our sins. He loves every single person regardless of how they reject Him.

It's a great plot line...someone ought to write a book.

[Spider-Dan]

Ted Cruz seems to be winning the conservative vote more and more and Trump seems to be winning with a wide swath of Republicans as well as Independents and "blue collar" Democrats that have switched over. So I don't believe the demographics back up your theory at all.

I mean... are conservatives even allowed to enter Massachussets and Vermont?

Both VT and MA are open primaries, so they wouldn't need to, right?

KY, LA, and NV are all closed primaries that Trump won, so he obviously has appeal with the Republican base.  Furthermore, for every blue collar Dem Trump is supposedly capturing, you will have 2 additional Dems driven to the polls to vote against him AND a Republican who stays home to avoid voting for him (see: #NeverTrump).

[Dave Gray]

Did anyone see Trump's speech last night? 

Even though I've seen it all, I continue to be surprised at what he's doing.  This time, it wasn't offensive; it was just weird.  Apparently, he was very offended by Romney calling out his various companies (Trump Water, Trump Steaks, some of his building projects, etc.) so he took the time to pitch a 30-minute, live infomercial on how great his steaks and water are. 

I can't even believe what I'm watching at this point.

[Phishfan]

^^^ I saw portions of it. He just kept going on about the water, steaks, and magazine. At least we didn't have to hear about his penis anymore. How does anyone think this guy is Presidential?

[CF DolFan]

People think he can fix the economy and that is what matters most. He says what he wants which separates him from the Washington establishment in having a new direction and people feel like he can fix an economy that has been in suffering for 12 years or so. Most people either ignore or don't believe his crazy talk.

I think it's pretty clear he will be the next president.

[Dave Gray]

I forgot about the magazine.  He talked about that for a bit.  And then talked about some Bank of America building somewhere, too.  It was like he was doing a timeshare presentation. 

It had nothing to do with his presidential run and more was like an "Oh yeah, Romney?" moment.  His platform is just talking about how great he is.  It's like we're in a dream.

[Sunstroke]

People think he can fix the economy and that is what matters most.

Do these people understand that he's filed for bankruptcy four (4) different times?

The only economic policy Trump has ever espoused is "what will make Donald Trump more money."

[masterfins]

Bernie shares all of those positions (and none of Trump's negatives, from a Dem perspective)... and Bernie is losing.

The only reason Bernie is losing is because the fix was in for Hillary before a vote was even cast.  She locked up just about all of the Super Delegates, which is why she is winning.  If this were a straight up race like the GOP has Bernie would probably be winning.