By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--March 30, 2016
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Earlier today, Dan discussed the fact that each of the GOP's 2016 candidates have abandoned their pledges to support the eventual nominee. It's making headlines virtually everywhere and, if you believe the media, it portends doom in November. ...Except it really doesn't.
You can tell by the circular firing squad that it's pretty clear the GOP establishment is hell-bent on choosing a course of action that guarantees failure. However, if the party collapses in the general election, it won't be because the losing candidates opted not to support the nom. However, Rasmussen Reports polling finds that only 31% of Republican voters believe candidates who don’t win the party’s presidential nomination should be required to publicly support the person who is nominated. Still, 60% of Republicans say it is at least somewhat important to their vote that candidates who don’t win their party’s presidential nomination publicly support the person who is, although just 33% say it is Very Important to their vote. Among unaffiliated voters who are very likely to determine the outcome of this year’s presidential contest, only 14% consider party unity a Very Important issue. By comparison, 65% of Republicans and 53% of unaffiliated voters say the selection of a new U.S. Supreme Court justice is Very Important to their vote in November.In other words, it's nice if everyone gets in line - but it's not a deal breaker if they don't. So, when news outlets, pundits, and candidates start making a big deal out of the "broken pledges," remember; it's not much more than political noise. They'll try to use it to build and sell their narratives - and they'll employ it to bend public opinion - but, in the end, it doesn't really mean all that much.
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