The presidential primary season is winding down with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton getting close to clinching the nomination in each party. The only chance the Republicans have of stopping Trump from winning the nomination is to deny him the amount of delegates he needs heading to the convention. Hillary Clinton is well on her way to winning the nomination and will likely clinch before the convention. If Cruz and Kasich prevent Trump from getting the delegates he needs to clinch the nomination we will see something we haven’t seen since 1976, a contested convention.
In the old days the presidential nominations were decided at the conventions. There are pros and cons with the two systems. The old system produced better candidates but it was less democratic. We use to have better presidential matchups like Dewey vs. Truman or Stevenson vs. Eisenhower. In 2000 and 2004 we had Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Kerry. In some ways I prefer the old system, but the primary process also gives an outsider a better chance.
We are left with an interesting situation now that the primaries are almost over. The two candidates leading their party’s nomination have very high unfavorable ratings. Donald Trumps’ unfavorable ratings are higher than Hillary Clintons’. The Republican Party establishment sees this and are understandable worried. Donald Trump is blowing an otherwise winnable election for the Republicans.
The top two candidates in the Republican primary are literally the last two candidates that they wanted as their nominee. Senator Ted Cruz can probably count the amount of friends he has in the Senate on one hand and Trump has seen very few if any endorsements from anyone in congress. Both Cruz and Trump would lose the election to either of the Democratic candidates if the election were held today. It is possible but I don’t see that changing much in the next several months.
Donald Trump is doing the opposite of what he should be doing if he wants to win in November. In 2012 Mitt Romney lost the Hispanic vote by a large margin. Trump is on track to do even worse. Donald Trump’s approval rating among women are among the lowest of any candidate in history. There will be a likely revolt within the party if he wins the nomination which would lead to many voting third party over Trump. Only one of the factors I mentioned above could cost him the election.
The Republican Party is faced with a problem heading into the Convention no matter what. If they try to take away the nomination away from Trump than his voters could stay at home, if Trump wins the nomination he could cost them the Senate. There has been talk that Trump could cause the Republicans to lose complete control of congress. The only way that could happen is if the Republicans have another election like 2006 or 2008. That is a possibility but I am skeptical that could happen at the moment. The Republicans don’t want to take that chance but they are running out of options fast.
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