GOP on guard as Trump continues to dangle 3rd party prospect

However, those same Republican voters also continued to say by a large margin that they expected Bush to actually win the nomination, a question that often has more value as a forecasting tool. “I think they (GOP party officials) are very much afraid of him being an independent candidate”.

The head of the Republican Party told NBC on Monday that he thinks GOP presidential candidates should vow not to run as third-party candidates if they do not win the party’s nomination, something front-runner Donald Trump has said could happen should he be treated unfairly.

Granted, the Pew survey was released just when Donald Trump was beginning his rise in the poll to the top-tier of contenders, but the favorability problem that both parties have goes back before the heating up of the presidential primary contests.

Trump’s incendiary comments about immigrants have been particularly problematic for the National Republican Party, whose 2012 “autopsy” report called for a million outreach effort to Latinos, African-Americans and Asians. Longtime GOP donor Fred Malek bets Trump is Republican enough not to want to risk tipping the election to Clinton. Plenty of people who aren’t white, working-class men have voiced their support for Trump.

Because states don’t all vote on the same day, the outcome of one election invariably alters expectations and thus choices in subsequent surveys. Trump has also smashed Lindsey Graham, slapped Karl Rove and ceaselessly attacked Jeb Bush.

What they’re all missing is that Trump is immune to all of the things they think will take him out. Bush leads among moderate and liberal Republicans, with 22 percent compared to Trump’s 18 percent with that cross section of voters.

Bush’s comments come following statements made by Trump that characterized numerous immigrants coming to American from Mexico as criminals and rapists.

The Trump phenomenon seems to be galvanizing conservative voters and uniting them behind his candidacy, at the expense of other conservative candidates.

A few days from now, during the first Republican debate, it’s going to be fun watching these clowns go at one another while dodging the wrath of Trump, known to say anything at any time.

Likewise, in that 1990 Playboy article, he demurred on the topic of abortion: “When I asked for his stand on abortion, he frowned, pouted and asked me to turn the recorder off”, wrote Glenn Paskin. “Absolutely, if they’re not fair, that would be a factor”.

I am not a big Trump fan but I find him refreshing and anyone that causes progressives to lose sleep and foam at the mouth gets my attention.

Genesee and Saginaw county Republicans who have booked Trump as the keynote speaker for August. 11 Lincoln Day dinner in Birch Run expect the event to sell out.

-“It’s highly unlikely” he’ll run on his own, depends on “how well I’m treated”.

“He’s got the facts all wrong on this one but I’m glad he’s at the border and maybe he’ll learn the truth while he’s there”, O’Rourke told MSNBC host Chris Hayes during an interview last week.