Saturday, July 18, 2015

Sending a Message

Do voters who say they support Donald Trump for the GOP nomination really want or expect to vote for him in November, 2016? Some do, but I'd argue a majority don't.

I believe most say Trump's name as a way to force "real" candidates to, in the words of Cool Hand Luke's warden, "get their minds right." So far, only Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina seem to have gotten the message the Trump partisans are sending. 

That message: we care deeply about getting immigration under control, about making it work for our country instead of against us. In several campaign headquarters strategists are trying to figure out how their candidate can take the position Trump's supporters want without terminally irritating Hispanics and Asians. That isn't an easy story to tell, maybe an impossible one.