Earlier today, right on the Las Vegas Strip, Donald Trump officially endorsed Mitt Romney for the 2012 Republican nomination.
In previous years, Trump has criticized Romney for his gubernatorial record, and particularly for the fact that Massachusetts is ranked 47th (out of 50 states) in job growth. However, when ABC World News' David Muir asked Trump about this former opinion, the billionaire replied that he has merely gotten to know Romney better.
For years, GOP candidates have been buddying up to Trump for his endorsement: Sarah Palin publicly shared a pizza with him, Newt Gingrich a hug, and Rick Perry a cordial thumbs-up. Interestingly enough, if there was anyone who wasn't playing this game, it was Mitt Romney, who declined an invite in December to participate in a Donald-moderated debate against Gingrich.
Trump has pledged not to run as a third-party candidate if Romney wins the Republican nomination.
The Obama campaign team was thrilled at this news regarding "the billionaire and the millionaire," as it will use Romney's wealth as one of its main attacking points, should Romney become the candidate facing Obama in the general election.
In a poll, a substantial proportion of responders claimed they would be less likely to vote for the candidate who was endorsed by Donald Trump. What effect do you Aragon Hitchhikers think this will have on Romney's nomination campaign and possible run in the general election, if any?
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I'm pretty sure that Donald Trump is regarded by most Americans as an egotistical, arrogant man and is only taken seriously by those on the extreme right of the political spectrum. His excessive spending and rude demands (i.e., harassing Obama until his birth certificate was released) have drawn criticism and even disgust from much of the public. While Trump's support of Romney may draw the support of conservative voters, I think moderates and independents will be less enthusiastic about the partnership. "The billionaire and the millionaire" certainly won't seem relatable to the majority of voters; we'll just have to wait and see how this union affects the Republican nomination and, beyond that, the general election.
It’s clear that Romney and Trump have many things in common. They both love to fire people and have extremely large sums of money. Trump is known for always trying to turn the attention to himself and he has definitely done so this year. Last year, he had the media waiting on him to see if he was going to campaign for the republican nomination. This week, he had us all waiting to find out who he was going to endorse. There was talk that Gingrich was going to get backed up by Trump, but Romney got the endorsement.
Romney has gained some benefits by accepting Trump endorsements; one of them is removing the chances that Trump will run as a third party candidate. However, Romney still has to deal with Gingrich and Santorum who are not going to give up easy. In addition, the new statistics that show that there is a decrease in the unemployment rate will hurt Romney because it look like Obama may be steering us at the right direction.
I think that this relates well to what we were discussing about campaign finance during class. It's a huge advantage for the other GOP candidates that Trump won't be running for president himself. Considering how vast his resources are, he would have had plenty of money to campaign vigorously. With Trump's endorsement of Romney, subsequently taking himself out of the picture, the other candidates have much better chances of obtaining the presidency now that there is no major third party.
I actually don't think that Trump's endorsement will be much of an impact on Romney's campaign since most people don't take him seriously. And it seems like Romney doesn't take him too seriously, either, as he declined to participate in Trump's debate. I also read in an article that a Pew Research poll said 64% of likely Republican voters said that Trump's support wouldn't affect their vote.
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