(RepublicanReport.org) – Former President Donald Trump dominated the polls on Super Tuesday, clearing the path for his GOP nomination. While MAGA Republicans are celebrating the win, the road ahead for the conservative front-runner is still anything but a downhill coast. There’s evidence that the former president lacks the full support of his party, which he likely will need if he wants to win the White House in November. Despite his continued support among the far-right, the most recent numbers show that Trump might not be as popular as everyone thinks.
Super Tuesday Results
Roughly 8,487,000 Republicans across 15 states voted on Tuesday, March 5. Trump won most states by a landslide, earning 777 of the 865 available delegates. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley picked up 46.
Given those figures, the GOP front-runner might appear as popular as ever. The win officially convinced Trump’s long-shot challenger to end her presidential campaign. The Associated Press shared Haley’s concession speech on March 6 live on YouTube, where she congratulated Trump and expressed her hope that the country might find a way to rise above the division.
Yet, a closer look at the actual numbers doesn’t speak as loudly in Trump’s favor as it might at first glance. The New York Times reports that the MAGA leader had a total of 6,445,000 winning ballots across the board, giving him 76% of the popular vote. Haley gathered 2,042,000, gaining 24% of the popular vote, and she managed to win the state of Vermont. Trump may have won by about 4,403,000 ballots on Super Tuesday alone, but on that same day, over 2 million Republicans expressed the desire to see someone other than Trump as their leader. That lack of solidarity could spell bad news for the Right in November, especially if those 2 million votes become lost to no-shows and third-party candidates in the general election.
Anybody’s Race
Newsweek saw the Super Tuesday results as one of multiple indicators that Trump struggled more than his party would like to admit. Trump reportedly felt he had “an amazing, amazing night,” but some experts weren’t as optimistic. The pool of never-Trumpers among right-wing voters remains very real, and the apparent GOP nominee might need to fight harder for some of his votes this time around than in previous elections.
The Hill pointed out that Democrats have proven in past elections that even when they have a weak candidate, they’ll vote for the Left if they dislike the GOP’s opponent enough. A good example was Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who won his seat even after suffering a stroke. Additionally, FiveThirtyEight showed that 52.2% of Americans continued to harbor an unfavorable view of the MAGA leader.
Whether Trump can rally the Republican party, unite different factions, and convince moderates that he’s still the choice to Make America Great Again remains the biggest question.
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