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Why are democrats voting for Trump in the primaries?

Why are democrats voting for Trump in the primaries?

  • Because they support his positions and intend to vote for in the general election.

    Votes: 11 25.0%

  • Because they are trying to stack the deck in favor of democrats in the general election.

    Votes: 24 54.5%

  • other

    Votes: 9 20.5%
  • Total voters
    44
jamesrage

jamesrage

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jamesrage said:
Why are democrats voting for Trump in open primary states or switching parties in closed primary states to vote for Trump?

Because they support his positions and intend to vote for in the general election.
Because they are trying to stack the deck in favor of democrats in the general election.
other


Report: 46,000 Pa. Democrats Become Republicans Due To Trump « CBS Pittsburgh

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rting-to-change-toward-more-closed-primaries/
Click to expand...

It doesn't mean anything. Pennsylvania has a closed primary and people just want to vote in a election that matters and is more interesting. In 2008 people changed to democrat because obama vs clinton was more interesting and mattered because the other contest was wrapped up.
 
Both, and perhaps other reasons as well.
 
I'm leaning to "because they are trying to stack the deck in favor of democrats in the general election." But I doubt that is the exclusive reason for all of them voting this way.
 
jamesrage said:
Why are democrats voting for Trump in open primary states or switching parties in closed primary states to vote for Trump?

Because they support his positions and intend to vote for in the general election.
Because they are trying to stack the deck in favor of democrats in the general election.
other


Report: 46,000 Pa. Democrats Become Republicans Due To Trump « CBS Pittsburgh

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rting-to-change-toward-more-closed-primaries/
Click to expand...

Trump is popularly perceived as the weakest of the GOP field because of his extremely high negatives.
 
jamesrage said:
Why are democrats voting for Trump in open primary states or switching parties in closed primary states to vote for Trump?

Because they support his positions and intend to vote for in the general election.
Because they are trying to stack the deck in favor of democrats in the general election.
other


Report: 46,000 Pa. Democrats Become Republicans Due To Trump « CBS Pittsburgh

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rting-to-change-toward-more-closed-primaries/
Click to expand...

Because Clinton has the nomination sewn up for the Democratic Party. So there's no real reason to vote for her in the primaries. Plus, they think Trump is interesting as an outsider, and perhaps would consider voting for him in the general election (but haven't decided to do so at this point).
 
It means nothing to me.

Trump is for banning Muslims from entering America, for murdering the innocent women and children family members of terrorists, for building a wall on the Mexican border, for torturing more severely, etc..

Do any of these sound anything like typical Democratic Party platforms?

Imo, there is NO WAY the average Democrat - no matter who is the Dem candidate - will vote for Trump. They may stay home on election night, but they will not be voting for Trump. And without their vote, Trump realistically cannot win...there simply are not enough Republicans any longer to singlehandedly guarantee that.

Imo, unless Trump suddenly does a complete about \face on the above policies (and many others) he has NO CHANCE at the White House in 2016.

Thank goodness.


Once again, I am neither Dem nor Rep.
 
Last edited:
If they switched parties to vote for Trump, or voted in the open primaries, then there is as good a chance that they intend to vote for him come election time as there is that they are trying to stack the deck.

Everyone keeps slamming him, yet he keeps on winning primaries.

I honestly think he threw his hat in originally just to get in the public eye. He likes publicity, it only serves to help him in all of his investment ventures.

I don't think he really thought he would make it this far, much less become a viable GOP candidate.

IMO, if he gets the nomination you will see a solidification of a platform in order to try a valid challenge against whoever the Dems select.

I also think people will be surprised at how much support he drums up if he does get the nomination.
 
Captain Adverse said:
If they switched parties to vote for Trump, or voted in the open primaries, then there is as good a chance that they intend to vote for him come election time as there is that they are trying to stack the deck.

Everyone keeps slamming him, yet he keeps on winning primaries.

I honestly think he threw his hat in originally just to get in the public eye. He likes publicity, it only serves to help him in all of his investment ventures.

I don't think he really thought he would make it this far, much less become a viable GOP candidate.

IMO, if he gets the nomination you will see a solidification of a platform in order to try a valid challenge against whoever the Dems select.

I also think people will be surprised at how much support he drums up if he does get the nomination.
Click to expand...

Even if he totally changes his insane positions, he cannot run away from them. The Dems will make sure of that.
 
iguanaman said:
Even if he totally changes his insane positions, he cannot run away from them. The Dems will make sure of that.
Click to expand...

I'm sure. But if Hillary is his opponent, there will be a lot of trash and mud that can be dredged up and thrown at her too. Trump can fall back on his standard explanation that he was just talking off the top of his head, not playing by a script. Hillary has to explain her entire prior record. If Sanders ran against Trump, he would probably win.
 
Because the level of anti-establishment sentiment is too damn high.

People are losing their minds.
 
jamesrage said:
Why are democrats voting for Trump in open primary states or switching parties in closed primary states to vote for Trump?

Because they support his positions and intend to vote for in the general election.
Because they are trying to stack the deck in favor of democrats in the general election.
other


Report: 46,000 Pa. Democrats Become Republicans Due To Trump « CBS Pittsburgh

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rting-to-change-toward-more-closed-primaries/
Click to expand...

Not all democrats are liberal and since Trump is a former democrat and has populist democrat views I think some of the more conservative blue collar democrats like his anti trade agreement rhetoric and probably his anti immigration and Islam rhetoric. I personally know a few democrats myself who are supporting trump precisely because of his anti immigrant views.

Trump has legitimate cross over appeal that is being severely underestimated by both parties. I could even see it feasible that he captures a larger percentage of the black vote than usual.
 
I posted this in another thread on accident and meant to post it here.

Also lets be real. Anytime a well known celebrity enters the political fray it changes the dynamics tremendously in most cases. Ahnold for Cali governor is a perfect example. So is Ronald Reagan.

Celebrities are typically pretty natural at public speaking and have to be entertaining. Even if you're opposed ideologically a lot of voters can get over that if they like you personally and find you entertaining, as I'm sure many democrats do. Donald Trump can be charming when he wants to be. Even as a liberal dem myself I find certain qualities about him appealing.
 
Captain Adverse said:
I'm sure. But if Hillary is his opponent, there will be a lot of trash and mud that can be dredged up and thrown at her too. Trump can fall back on his standard explanation that he was just talking off the top of his head, not playing by a script. Hillary has to explain her entire prior record. If Sanders ran against Trump, he would probably win.
Click to expand...

Right, Sanders has nothing in his record or platform that could be attacked by Trump. You would love to see the Republicans run against a "commie" as Trump has taken to saying about Sanders. I'm sure Hillary can do better than him in the General but either of them might be able to beat Trump. He's that bad a candidate....Cruz would be even worse though.
 
jamesrage said:
Why are democrats voting for Trump in open primary states or switching parties in closed primary states to vote for Trump?

Because they support his positions and intend to vote for in the general election.
Because they are trying to stack the deck in favor of democrats in the general election.
other
Click to expand...

Probably some of all of those, though I lean more towards Democrats stacking the deck rather than ones that actually support him. There are probably also some that just think the Republican race is more interesting.
 
akrunner88 said:
Not all democrats are liberal and since Trump is a former democrat and has populist democrat views I think some of the more conservative blue collar democrats like his anti trade agreement rhetoric and probably his anti immigration and Islam rhetoric. I personally know a few democrats myself who are supporting trump precisely because of his anti immigrant views.
Click to expand...
When you say anti-immigrant you mean anti-illegal immigrant? Because as far as I know Trump has not said that he wants to stop all legal immigration.

Trump has legitimate cross over appeal that is being severely underestimated by both parties. I could even see it feasible that he captures a larger percentage of the black vote than usual.
Click to expand...

It'll be interesting to see if any of these
crossover voters actually vote for Trump in the General.
 
Captain Adverse said:
I'm sure. But if Hillary is his opponent, there will be a lot of trash and mud that can be dredged up and thrown at her too. Trump can fall back on his standard explanation that he was just talking off the top of his head, not playing by a script. Hillary has to explain her entire prior record. If Sanders ran against Trump, he would probably win.
Click to expand...

Sanders is the only one Trump would beat. Hillary will run at least the most effective negative ad campaign against Trump since LBJ did with Goldwater. I have explained this in other threads, but here is how it will go:

All this violence at Trump rallies will amount to the most effective negative ads in the general since LBJ's against Goldwater. Either the Hillary campaign or some PACs will show Trump more or less egging them on as he has in in past rallies, then follow up with clips of minorities being pushed, shoved, and punched by the crowd in his rallies. Mark my words, that is exactly what they will do. They will mix those ads up with others where he says some of the most outrageous things he has said and then others showing where hate groups like the Klan endorsed him. Not only that, but they will tar every Republican running for reelection with the same Trump hatemongering.

Not only will it further destroy him with the minority vote, but it will also curb his ability to bring in working class white Democrats as it will shame them into not voting for him (just like with Goldwater).

They will take it even further though, as they will run all the bigoted statements he has made in regards to immigrants, particularly Hispanic immigrants, and even further destroy him with the Hispanic vote. A Republican needs at least 40% of the Hispanic vote to win in November. The last Republican to do that was Bush in 2004. Trump does not stand a chance in hell of getting even half that. Hispanics look at him like Blacks did George Wallace. The only Hispanics he will win are the few that are in the Republican Party.

Hillary is a flawed candidate and Bernie is unelectable in the general. With a candidate like Kasich, the Republicans would probably win in November, but they are going to absolutely get their ass kicked with a candidate like Trump or Cruz.

The only reason why the Republicans Trump is running against have not done this is they are trying to appeal to the same bigots that are in Trump's base, a Democrat will care less about that, but rather will want to make sure that those bigots are all that he has voting for him come November. The Republican establishment knows this and that is why they are scared to death of him being their candidate.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Hillary is a flawed candidate and Bernie is unelectable in the general. With a candidate like Kasich, the Republicans would probably win in November, but they are going to absolutely get their ass kicked with a candidate like Trump or Cruz.
Click to expand...
Real clear politics shows Cruz beating Clinton.He is been on a steady rise against her and she has been on a steady decline against him.
RealClearPolitics - Election 2016 - General Election: Cruz vs. Clinton
RealClearPolitics - Election 2016 - General Election: Trump vs. Clinton
 
jamesrage said:
Why are democrats voting for Trump in open primary states or switching parties in closed primary states to vote for Trump?

Because they support his positions and intend to vote for in the general election.
Because they are trying to stack the deck in favor of democrats in the general election.
other


Report: 46,000 Pa. Democrats Become Republicans Due To Trump « CBS Pittsburgh

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rting-to-change-toward-more-closed-primaries/
Click to expand...

I actually don't find it hard to believe that there are a lot of working class voters in Pennsylvania (especially white working class voters) who are drawn to Trumps message.
 
I see far more media hype than any substantial shift to Trump. I see reports of 20 to 40 thousand dems changing party. The total vote in the Pub Primary was over 11 MILLION.

A literal drop in the PUB bucket... :peace
 
I think Cruz is the easiest to beat. Cruz is too religious, too funny looking, and too preachy.

A moralistic minister list the last thing Americans are looking for. Morality is not what is selling right now. It's jobs and nationalism.
 
akrunner88 said:
Not all democrats are liberal and since Trump is a former democrat and has populist democrat views I think some of the more conservative blue collar democrats like his anti trade agreement rhetoric and probably his anti immigration and Islam rhetoric. I personally know a few democrats myself who are supporting trump precisely because of his anti immigrant views.

Trump has legitimate cross over appeal that is being severely underestimated by both parties. I could even see it feasible that he captures a larger percentage of the black vote than usual.
Click to expand...

Precisely. Here, in Massachusetts blue-collar Democrats supporting Trump are everywhere. And if Cruz, Kasich or Rubio are on the ballot in November, Hillary will take MA easily. These are actually Republicans of different flavors. MA doesn't do Republicans. But if it is Trump, I suspect, no - predict, based on the current mood - that she will actually lose the Commonwealth, maybe even not by a slim margin. (In the unlikely case it is Trump vs. Sanders, all bets are off - both have huge appeal here. The only reason Bernie did not win on Super Tuesday is that too many of his potential votes went to Trump. And he ALMOST won anyway: 45 delegates vs. 46 for the Robot-Lizard Lady).
 
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