The question that first plagued Republicans is now being asked about the Democrats: Will they ever get their act together before the November election?
Bernie Sanders is explicitly running to force a contested Democratic convention, just as Ted Cruz was doing on the GOP side before he dropped out. Sanders’ chances of actually getting a substantial number of superdelegates to choose him over Hillary Clinton, thus overturning the popular vote and pledged delegates, are no better than Cruz trying to keep Donald Trump below a majority at this point.
But Sanders isn’t ending his campaign. “We are in ’til the last ballot is cast!” he shouted after winning the Oregon primary. His supporters are getting angrier at the Democratic establishment — and rowdier about expressing it.
Tempers flared at the Democrats’ Nevada convention when Sanders supporters threatened the state party chairwoman. “I feared for my safety and felt threatened,” concurred Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who was there to support Clinton.
The Democratic National Committee rebuked Sanders. Sanders, liberal commentators said DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is to blame for the sudden Democratic disunity. Republicans are enjoying the spectacle.
“Democrats at war!” blared the GOP opposition research PAC America Rising. “What is it good for?” as the old Temptations’ played.
Not long ago, Republicans didn’t have to look beyond their own party to see disunity. In fact, divisions persist. House Speaker Paul Ryan has yet to endorse Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee. Trump’s last two rivals, Cruz and John Kasich, the last two Republican presidents and 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney have all so far withheld their endorsements as well. A committed core of conservatives is still saying “never Trump.”
But as the dust settles and a general election against Clinton approaches, rank-and-file Republicans are gravitating toward Trump. In a Fox News poll, 82 percent of GOP voters favored Trump and 74 percent were extremely or very interested in the election.
Although other polls still show GOP resistance to Trump — Gallup found 50 percent preferred an alternative — most general election polling shows Republicans coming home.
“As more and more Republicans warm to the idea of Donald Trump, the curious cohort of ‘never Trump’ Republicans who continue to pursue an effort to draft a third-party candidate look silly,” GOP strategist Ford O’Connell told the Washington Examiner.
That’s also why Republicans can’t count on Clinton-Sanders acrimony to last long after that race is settled. Exit polls might have showed that nearly half of Sanders’ West Virginia voters would be with Trump over Clinton in November. In 2008, exits in Indiana showed 50 percent of Clinton voters would support John McCain over Barack Obama. Yet Obama won the state in November.
Some polls still had more than a third of Clinton supporters saying they wouldn’t vote for Obama when the primaries were over. The diehards called themselves PUMAs, which was supposed to stand for People United Means Action but was commonly called “Party Unity My Ass.” Come November, Clinton voters actually went for Obama over McCain 83-16 percent.
A third-party candidacy or other unusual event could change these dynamics. But when partisans’ choices dwindle, even divided parties have a way of coming together.
Gabby Morrongiello contributed to this report.
