Trump’s primary challenge mirage

Published August 29, 2019 4:00am ET



In politics, everybody loves a winner. Despite winning fewer than half of all votes cast in the Republican primaries in 2016, through his subsequent nomination and victory in the presidential election Donald Trump has largely consolidated the support of Republican voters, with a job approval among Republicans that has remained around 90% in Gallup polling.

But that has not stopped the steady stream of speculation that perhaps Trump could be vulnerable to a primary challenge from a group including former right-wing radio host Joe Walsh, former congressman and Gov. Mark Sanford, and former Gov. Bill Weld. They argue that Trump’s unorthodox personality and policy views make him a poor fit for the Republican Party even today and think Republican voters are open to turning that page.

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