I think “Trump Democrats” are a real thing. The question is whether there are enough of them to compensate for the drubbing Trump would take in November with hispanics, women, and young voters. I doubt it and current (I know) polls reflect that .
I know they are for real, because I know some of them. They won’t ever admit it to another Democrat, and often not to each other, but some have told me because they know I support Trump. These are well-educated life-long Democrats who have never ever been tempted to vote for any Republican, with the exception of Giuliani. What seems to motivate them, mostly, or at least the ones I know, is an inability to vote for Hillary and keep their self-respect. This means that if Bernie is the nominee, they will revert to voting democratic.
I’m inclined to believe that many democrats are voting republican, or even changing their registration, but I’m not sure that means they actually support Trump, or even a republican platform. In states with open primaries, the nature of the voting invites mischief that can harm Trump. In states with closed primaries, the registration changes can just mean that democrats want to infiltrate the voting to, again, harm Trump, or the GOP in general.
This isn’t necessarily reason to celebrate; it’s like the previously reported general dissatisfaction among liberals with obama’s presidency. It never meant they were inching toward the GOP, but, rather, wanted someone even farther to the left.
In short, democrats are not to be trusted, and especially in an election year.
Let’s hope so, and if so it will be the second (third) time as far as I know. The first time was the election and reelection of President Reagan in 1980 and 1984