Barring some gaffe-tastrophe Trump is running away with the early primary states, according to current polling. His best numbers will be in these early primaries.
Given his already meteoric rise, I don’t know why he felt the need to risk losing votes by bringing up Palin either, unless to cement the arch conservative support. But, he already seems to have that. Maybe his internal polling is not so hot after all with conservatives, I don’t know.
Maybe he seems to think her base waits for her approval and amounts to a larger number than I have ever been led to believe. I don’t know, I would think he would have just surprised the world with sticking her in his cabinet over the EPA, but not not risk using her in an already dangerous campaign.
Trump’s mentioned the possibility of having Sarah and Trey Gowdy in his cabinet. It will be interesting, if and when the time comes, to see who he mentions as possible VP choices.
“Given his already meteoric rise, I don’t know why he felt the need to risk losing votes by bringing up Palin either,”
This is the kind of conventional wisdom thinking Trump rejects, namely the idea that being associated with Palin costs him votes. I could just as easily say I can’t understand why Trump would risk losing Hispanic votes by talking so tough about the border. But it’s far from clear that this is costing him in the Hispanic community, where many who came here legally also believe in the rule of law.
I don’t know if Trump will put Palin on the ticket or not, but it’s definitely smart to praise her during the primaries, most grassroots Republicans still highly respect Palin, and this association gives conservatives some reassurance that he is really with them.