When Iowans head to their caucus sites Monday, many will cast their votes for Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee for president. Although Trump has never officially run for president in the past, Monday won’t be the first time people have voted for him to be president.
In 2012, a luxuriously grand total of five caucus-goers wrote in Donald Trump for president.
Five.
According to The Green Papers, that’s fewer votes than “no preference” got (147). Fewer than Herman Cain (45) and Gary Johnson (8), who had already dropped out of the GOP race. Fewer than many who weren’t even running, like Sarah Palin (23) and Buddy Roemer (17). Even fewer than long-shot candidate Fred Karger (10), who wasn’t invited to any of the presidential debates, and who surely didn’t have Trump’s name recognition.
Trump’s five write-in votes did beat a few impressive names: Paul Ryan (3), Rudy Giuliani (2), Mike Huckabee (2), Tim Pawlenty (2), Condoleezza Rice (2), John McCain (1) and Scott Walker (1).
Sadly, there doesn’t appear to be records of any other instances in which someone wrote Trump’s name in for president on an official ballot.
Trump’s pitiful 2012 performance raises the question: Why isn’t the Santorum campaign bragging about having gotten 6,000 times as many votes as Trump on the way to its 2012 Iowa Caucus victory?
Win or lose Monday, no matter how many votes Trump gets in the Iowa caucuses, surely he can boast that his vote count multiplied many times over his performance just four years ago.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
