Donald Trump has easily out-bested the still-crowded GOP race for president to take honors in South Carolina tonight. He's capturing close to 35% of the vote as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz battle it out for second place with close to 21% each. Jeb Bush is a distant fourth with only about 10% of the vote, leaving little doubt he will exit the race after three successive poor showings. John Kasich, who wasn't expected to do well here, is getting about 7% of the vote compared to Ben Carson's 6%. Every Republican presidential candidate in modern times went on to win the party's nomination after winning both New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Trump's win is particularly impressive in that he's winning in all regions of the diverse Palmetto State. Trump is racking up a big lead in areas heavily populated with military retirees. He's easily leading in the coastal, urban regions and even in the Bible Belt western parts of the state. Rubio is doing better than expected and could claim a victory of sorts if he manages to beat Cruz out for second place, which is well within his reach. Trump is the guy with the momentum on his side, and he's the only candidate to pick up those all important delegates. His victory gives him all of South Carolina's 50 delegates.
UPDATE: Jeb Bush has officially quit the race. Who would have thought just six months ago that Bush could possibly lose this nomination, let alone perform this badly. Ben Carson is staying in the race as is John Kasich so there will continue to be five men contending for the nomination. He does now appear that Rubio is going to finish second, a big blow to Cruz who missed out on winning a state that should have been tailor-made for him.
9 comments:
I think it's pretty safe to say that the Donald is going to be the nominee at this point. Cruz's negatives are just too high, even for an ideological constitutional conservative like me. He has zero chance of inspiring the base and getting the kind of turnout he would need to beat HRC, who is going to be the Dem nominee. Trump is far from my ideal, but he will attract hundreds of thousands of disenchanted Democrats and he will win states Republicans haven't won in a long time. I can live with that. I simply do not think America can withstand four years of the Wicked Witch of the West.
It seems all the "Pundits" in the Corporate Press see Trump pretty much running the table the rest of the way. Cruz and Rubio will continue to fight for the same voters.
The "Pundits" are also saying $hillary has a lock. The "Pundits" are claiming that $hillary's popularity among African-Americans will easily tip the scales in her favor the rest of the way. If this is the case than the Democratic Party's choice of $hillary will be Of Wall Street, by Wall Street and for Wall Street. I am still puzzled by why African-Americans would vote for $hillary. What exactly other than platitudes have the Clinton's ever delivered to the African-American Community????
I can't imagine why any serious political observer would think South Carolina is "tailor made" for Cruz.
Northerners tend to make crude generalities about the South. Western states will warm to Cruz, but he might not be best suited to Cal, Ore, Wa, Nev, Utah, Az and HI (obviously).
A Cruz firewall is an Idaho, an Alaska.
I just don't understand how bigot Trump is leading!! All the hard work the Republicans were doing over the past couple years to reach out to minorities (Mexicans, Muslims etc.) is out the door if Trump wins the nomination!!! The man has given no detailed plans!! Just keeps ranting "I'm going to make America great again!"
Rubio and Cruz's voters are anti-Trump but otherwise they aren't the same. Rubio is pulling from the establishment side and Cruz's support is very much anti-Establishment, the same as Trump's.
I guess I'm not seeing the huge Trump victory. Polls just a week ago had Trump up 20 points. A lot of analysts said that if Trump only won by single digits that would be considered a loss. Trump won by 10.0%. A hundred or so voters changed their vote and Trump's win would have in the single digits.
Candidates keep leaving the race but Trump's support doesn't increase. He pretty much has the same support when the number of candidates was 17. Yeah, Donald Trump will get some Democrats, but he will lose a ton of Republicans who will never under any circumstance vote for him in a primary or general election, including this Republican. The polling I've looked at shows Trump is actually the worst candidate in terms of getting independent support. And he consistently polls as the worst general election candidate of the top Republicans.
As the other candidates drop out, you will see Rubio and Cruz's support grows. Unfortunately they're both going to be around for awhile because if it Trump were one-on-one with another Republican, Trump's 35% wouldn't cut it.
There would be nothing to celebrate about a Trump nomination. The man is a life-long liberal (who is also a reprehensible human being.) He said Romney lost because he was too conservative. The idea of Donald Trump picking a Supreme Court justice is positively horrifying.
Trump did better in South Carolina than either of GOP nominees did there in 2008 or 2012 when Huckabee easily beat McCain and Gingrich easily beat Romney.
So what will these Indiana backers of Bush do now? Too funny.
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/behind-closed-doors/2015/12/05/jeb-bush-names-top-backers/76744936/
Now you can clap. And for the remainder of the field - ex nihilo nihil fit.
Anon 12:46 - I guess the question to ask YOU is are you happy with how POLITICIANS are running this country? While I think he can be an idiot, he DOES want America to be great again, unlike Barry, Sanders, or Hillary who wants to turn this in to a socialist state. There are some Americans who really love this country and are tired of hearing leadership apologize for our land of the brave and home of the brave.
Look at Lugar. He had NO domicile in Indiana and Indiana FINALLY said enough! Of course his kids were devastated because that meant they were loosing their cush lobbyist jobs. The Democrats are no better! Andre Carson is a hack. He has done nothing to be in that role except avoid jail long enough for grandma to anoint him.
The politicians have lost touch with what they promised to do: help their constituents. They have turned in to lining their pockets and building a power base - to HELL with the people.
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