If it’s not obvious by now, a ship called the Republican Party is perilously close to being hijacked by a populist pirate named Donald Trump. At the last three ports of call — New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — Trump overpowered his rivals, even capturing all 50 of the […] Read more »
Why Donald Trump has a 90 percent chance of winning the Republican nomination
New Hampshire, South Carolina and now Nevada: the evidence is mounting that Donald Trump will be the Republican presidential nominee. Those who doubt a Trump victory believe that Republican voters will at some point come to their senses, while others see a narrowing field as one that favors Trump’s competition. […] Read more »
Ted Cruz’s General Election Strategy Is Wishful Thinking
Even after a third-place showing in South Carolina on Saturday, Ted Cruz is one of three Republican presidential candidates — along with Donald Trump and Marco Rubio — who still has a relatively straightforward path to the nomination. But by nominating someone who is among the most conservative members of […] Read more »
How ‘Values Voters’ Became ‘Nostalgia Voters’
The South Carolina Republican primary results present long-time observers of white evangelical Protestants’ political behavior with a conundrum. How did Donald Trump—a twice-divorced, casino-owning New Yorker who curses during campaign speeches and is prone to church-related gaffes such as accidentally putting cash into the communion plate—win in this southern state […] Read more »
Two Saturday Surprises
Two surprising results came out of the Nevada Democratic caucuses and South Carolina Republican primary Saturday: in the former, Bernie Sanders’ showing among Hispanics; in the latter, Donald Trump’s performance among evangelicals. Each is worth a closer look. CONT. Gary Langer, ABC News Read more »
The New Shape of the Republican Race
After his solid, broadly based victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina, Donald Trump now holds a commanding position in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. But Trump still faces two “known unknowns,” to borrow the memorable phrase from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, an architect of the Iraq […] Read more »