“Trump (23), Cruz (13), Carson (11)
Hehehe...the RINOs, the media, and the DNC don’t like what the American people are brewing up.”
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Granted this an online poll with connections to NBC, but.... if you add Fiorina (8) to this list, then the top 4 in the poll get 55% and are all outsiders/anti-GOPe. Feels about right..says much about the state of the GOP and the country.
Notice that the Dems don't have this sort of ideological split within their party. The reps, the leadership, and the base, are all in (more or less) perfect accord with each other. There is very little if any internal squabbling amongst them.
From my recollection, when the Democrat base began pulling hard left, the reps and the leadership began to slowly drift in that direction without putting up too much of a fight. Perhaps it was because so many of the old line bulls were nearing retirement age, just as the new leftward push was beginning.
On the other hand, look at what's occurred on the right. The base has more or less always been conservative. Perhaps not actually 'hard right', but most certainly 'well right'. In all that time, there's been a tension between the base and their reps and leadership, who for the longest, were center-right, or even moderate-middle.
As time has gone by, the ideological tension between the base and the party has only grown, as the party drifted from moderate-middle, to center-left.
Now look at where we are. There's a full blown war going on between the party and its base. They're now forced to execute all manner of trickery and deceit in order to manipulate the outcomes of important elections. Quite honestly, they've stolen free elections and representative government from the very people they claim to represent.