Did Mitt Romney Help Donald Trump Win Michigan?
Mitt Romney’s anti-Donald Trump speech and subsequent like-minded media appearances may have backfired and possibly helped Donald Trump win the Michigan, Mississippi, and Hawaii primaries on Super Tuesday 2.
The Romney family is well known in Michigan.
Mitt Romney, the ex-governor of Massachusetts, grew up in Michigan, where his father George Romney was an automotive executive, governor, and unsuccessfully ran for president.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, Mitt Romney intervened in the GOP presidential campaign by publicly blasting Donald Trump in a much-anticipated speech delivered at the University of Utah. Romney roundly criticized Trump’s ethics, business history, and life choices in an address that effectively urged Republicans to rally around anyone but Trump.
In the run-up to yesterday’s voting, Romney also made robocalls on behalf of other GOP candidates in the attempt to defeat Trump.
Romney, the Republican standard-bearer in 2012 against President Obama, sought and received Trump’s endorsement (and cash) four years ago when the New York real estate mogul was initially flirting with the idea of a third-party candidacy for the White House.
Romney lost Massachusetts to Obama in 2012. Trump easily won the Massachusetts primary on March 1, 2016, but it remains to be seen how well he’ll do in the November general election, assuming he becomes the nominee.
This time around, Romney’s criticism of billionaire businessman may have hurt rather than helped the cause of the so-called #neverTrump GOP establishment, which is trying to derail the Trump train, according to data from Morning Consult, a media and technology company.
“Thirty-one percent of GOP voters said they were more likely to vote for Trump, while 20 percent said less likely, and 43 percent said it had no impact either way. The poll, which was conducted March 4 through March 6, also finds that only five percent of Trump supporters said they are now less likely to vote for Trump. And, of those who voted for Romney in 2012, 30 percent said they were more likely to vote for Trump, compared to 20 percent who said less likely. Nearly half (48 percent) said it wouldn’t affect their vote either way. The survey also shows GOP voters slightly prefer Trump to Romney: The brash New Yorker has a 55-42 favorability rating, compared to a 51-41 split for the former Massachusetts governor.”
Commenting on these poll results, Fortune claimed that “Trump supporters vehemently dislike what they perceive as the political establishment; Mitt Romney personifies it. So when Romney speaks, he only makes Trump supporters more energized to do whatever they can to defeat the establishment.”
Although Texas Senator Ted Cruz (who won the Idaho contest last night) seems to be gaining on Donald Trump, Maslansky & Partners pollster Lee Carter told FNC’s Neil Cavuto that an enthusiasm gap supposedly exists going into next Tuesday’s key primaries in Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina.
“The truth of the matter is, the voters that I talk to, and I’m out there talking to voters all the time. I’m a researcher. And, as we’re talking to folks, when people are talking about Cruz, it’s a vote against someone. I talk to so few people who are really, really excited about Ted Cruz. There are very, very few people who are rabid Ted Cruz supporters. It’s like, umm, maybe, I kind a think I should because he represents what I think it should be…But people who support Donald Trump are rabid. They believe he’s going to make America great again…”
Donald Trump fired back at Romney in last night’s victory riff/press conference at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, in which he also busted out some props, including Trump Water, Trump Wine, and Trump Steaks to establish that these were all viable businesses in his organization.
According to Politico, Fox News gained 700,00 viewers during Donald Trump’s presentation and lost more than one million after Trump concluded his remarks. CNN and MSNBC also had an uptick during the presser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCaL8x75TiE
Do you think that it is plausible that Mitt Romney is inadvertently helping Donald Trump win the Republican nomination for president?
[Photo by mpi88/MediaPunch Inc./IPX via AP]
