Posted on 08/17/2015 2:35:54 AM PDT by iowamark
Look at the Real Clear Politics polling average. The candidates who are perceived to not be of Washington are arguable Trump, Carson, Cruz, Huckabee, Fiorina, Paul, Perry, Jindal, and (arguably) Walker.
Some of them may be of Washington, but they have pretty legitimate outsider, non-establishment bona fides. Add up their polling total in the average and we get 61.4% of the vote. In other words, right now 61.4% of the vote is with the anti-establishment crowd.
In six days, Donald Trumps polling has declined two percent in the polling average with Cruz and Carson both going up just over one percentage point each.
Look in the bank accounts of the candidates and their Super PACs and you will also find that Cruz has been raising more small dollar donations than the other candidates. Individually and combined with Super PAC money, Cruz has the most money outside of Jeb Bush.
My theory is that Donald Trump will start to decline in popularity as we get closer to people having to cast an actual vote for someone they view as Presidential. The people with Trump right now are looking around for someone and the guy sitting in pole position for these voters is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100%.
Cruz has a very plausible path to the nomination.
Consider as well the electoral map. Normally we have Iowa then New Hampshire then South Carolina then Florida then clusters of states.
This time we will have Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, then most of the southern states including Georgia and Texas before Florida.
Cruz, having horded his money and spent it wisely thus far, has the ability to bounce from Iowa into South Carolina doing well, then fan out across the South. Theres a reason he took a swing through southern states after the RedState Gathering. Cruz knows his path to victory lies through the south and the election calendar puts Southern states in play for the first time in a very long time.
We are still several months from the first votes being cast. But right now it is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100%s time and he has a team of people who know what is at stake.
A hillbilly teenager walks up to a bank teller. She opens up her piggy bank and dumps a load of dollars, quarters and dimes out. The friendly teller says, “Wow! Did you hoard all of this?”
“No. My sister whored half of it.”
We didn’t need EE to tell us what we all knew before reading this.
I’m hoping Trump bows out and throws his support to Cruz . Really dislike Erikson but hope he’s right.
“Cruz/Trump”.........
Never going to happen. Trump’s ego will not allow ANYONE to be ahead of him in any race, deal, etc. He has an “I plan to win” attitude and nothing/no one will stop him from his ultimate goals except he, himself.
Probably true. I wonder if Cruz would even entertain the idea of being VP to Trump, or would he prefer to stay in the Senate? He hasn’t had much support from his fellow Senators - I guess we’ll all have to take a wait and see attitude and see how this plays out.
The problem with Trump is the fact that he’s already got all the supporters he’s going to get and 25% of one party is never going to win nationally.
Ohhhhhh Hording Cruzsaders .... : )
Plausible path to the nomination.
The crowds are getting larger and larger and the Cruzsaders Tsunami is just getting started.
The MSM won’t be able to ignore him soon, so they will belittle him and attack him , but this will get exciting.
The stage is being set when that time comes.
The ground is being cultivated.
The southern states is his vanguard and firewall.
The troops are being galvanized.
It is looking very good for Cruz. He is doing this very methodically and with intelligent calm reasoning is looking very presidential.
There is just something you cant quite put your finger on about the lack of contention between Ted and Donald. If they are conspiring, they are masters of the art.
My thinking is that Trump will see how the early Primaries pan out for him and Cruz and if the big Primaries turn out fairly equal between he and Ted, before the Convention Trump will announce that he is supporting Cruz. King making has to be a very sweet spot to be in.
Really, really think Trump loves the campaign fight, but dont think Trump will relish the idea of having to share power with somewhat equal partners in the Congress and Court.
My apologies for the re-post, but it seemed ideal for this thread too.
The above graph: Take out the ACLU, bump the Birchers out another 10%, and you know what you get?
The flag of “The Sons of Liberty”. 13 red and white stripes.
It does appear the Pied Piper’s lemmings must be finite, but the Donald sure seems to have some knack for finding the most right buttons to push at the most right times.
Still don’t think he’ll ever like the idea of sharing power with the other two Branches and is in it more or less to shape the campaigns, and boost his PR importance.
One question I would love to see all the candidates answer.
If you could win and rule as a dictatorial power, would you accept the job? Why would you or why wouldn’t you?
I think the answers would be very telling.
I’ve said from the beginning that Cruz has positioned himself wisely for the inevitable Trump implosion.
The man who receives my vote for President will be an established conservative, not a Donald-come-lately.
Nice.
Me too.
Actually, I’m not so certain Cruz has the charm or sunny optimism to win a general election at this point. His best bet might be winning a third-Trump term after eight years as his veep.
Eric weasel.
We can be confident how both Cruz and Trump would answer. Both would say No.
Cruz would mean it because of his lifelong admiration for the Constitution. It would be a most foreign thing to violate its very basis.
Trump, on the other hand would likely like the idea of being perceived as a “benevolent” dictator, because of the expediency and because that is the King of the Hill business leader format he is most used to working within.
I see what you did there....
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