There are (at least) two serious problems with the Cruz-Kasich Plan to divy up remaining states in an attempt to hold Donald Trump below a majority of delegates — beyond the fact that it’s too little, far too late:
- It plays into Trump’s message that the Republican primary is “rigged” against him and his supporters. The publicly touted Cruz-Kasich alliance only gives credibility to Trump’s claim that establishment Republicans are conspiring against him — because now they explicitly are.
- Trump is actually the prevailing second choice among both Cruz and Kasich voters, according to a recent national Quinnipiac University poll. The Cruz-Kasich plan might very well backfire by propelling Trump to even larger wins in the remaining states.
So, Ted Cruz and John Kasich’s “master plan” requires them to convince voters to support their third-choice candidate — i.e., Kasich or Cruz, as the case may be — all while trying to sell Trump’s own base of supporters the fiction that the alliance doesn’t slight him. It’s a bold strategy. We’ll see if it pays off for them.
Read more from Bloomberg: Poll: Cruz, Kasich Voters Prefer Trump as Second Choice.
Published: Apr 25, 2016