Trump wins Republican nomination, is still unlikely to win in November
May 6, 2016
Donald Trump is now the presumptive Republican nominee after Cruz and Kasich both dropped out of the race after disastrous performances in Tuesday’s Indiana primary. Admittedly, I never thought this day would come. I thought there would be a contested convention and chaos would ensue. As bad as a contested convention could have been for the party come the November election, Trump securing the nomination might be even worse.
Based on current general election polls, Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton 347-191. General election poll numbers at this point shouldn’t be taken as gospel, as there is still a lot of time left on the calendar until November, but trailing by such a large margin is not reassuring if you’re hoping for a Republican president. For context, betting markets currently have Hillary as a decisive favorite over Trump to win the Presidency, with Clinton as a -340 favorite and Trump as a +280 underdog. Trump is fighting a serious uphill battle to win the White House.
At this point, it’s too early to rule Trump out and the fact that he made it to this point is incredible. The last nominee for either party to have not held political office was Dwight Eisenhower, who helped lead the Allies to victory in World War II. On the flip side, Trump is well known for his time as a reality TV star on The Apprentice.
I think it’s very unlikely that Trump wins the general election, but the prospect of him winning the Republican nomination was seen as incredibly unlikely as well, yet here we are. It’s too soon to definitively predict what will happen in 6 months, but right now it looks like America won’t have a President Trump. Hopefully it stays that way.