Examine the entrails. Roll dem bones. Read the tea leaves.
Trump received more than 31,000 votes in the Iowa caucus, surpassing the 25,000 Democrats who turned out during Barack Obama’s successful 2012 reelection bid. Trump’s share was more than four times the number of Republicans who caucused during George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign.
The vote totals in New Hampshire were even starker. The president received 129,696 votes, more than doubling Obama and Bush’s totals.
While it’s unclear what the figures might portend for the general election
Really? Massive primary turnout when there’s no contest is one of those ambiguous and inexplicable things. Who can know what it portends except the, you know, massive turnout part.
Couvillon has also been monitoring early totals in Tennessee, which holds its primary on March 3. Despite the lack of a serious contest, Republican turnout in the state is down only 3 percent from 2016, when the party was in the thick of a fiercely competitive primary.
Except that Republican voters still see it that way.
“Impeachment has lit a fire under the Trump base — and I anticipate it will burn until Election Day in November,” said former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, chairman of the pro-Trump Republican Jewish Coalition. “Voter intensity is a key element in electoral success.”
It’s called commitment. Republicans believe that there’s a lot at stake here. And despite efforts to change that, the party is united.
Leave a Reply