Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus doesn’t think a Donald Trump or Ted Cruz nomination would tear the GOP apart, despite dozens of political insiders who’ve suggested otherwise.
Priebus was asked Thursday evening if he could keep his party from descending into chaos should Trump, a billionaire Democrat-turned-Republican, or Cruz, Texas’ conservative junior senator, win the GOP nomination. Priebus said he “100 percent could.”
“You know, the unifying thing about what I have to do is no matter who you’re for, everyone can agree that we have to have a national party and infrastructure that has its act together … everyone is gonna get behind whoever the winner is,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Priebus added, “Whoever the delegates of our party choose, that’s going to be the nominee and our party is gonna be behind that person 110 percent to save this country.”
Trump, however, has maintained one of the highest unfavorability ratings of any GOP candidate among potential voters. According to polling averages by the Huffington Post, nearly 56 percent of voters currently hold a negative view of the outspoken New York businessman.
Cruz is also viewed less favorably than unfavorably among U.S. voters. But the Texas senator has seen an uptick in the percentage of Republican voters who view him in positively, according to recent polling trends.
All of the GOP candidates, including Cruz and Trump, have publicly pledged to support whichever 2016 hopeful succeeds in becoming the Republican Party’s nominee.
