As he stood surrounded by family on a stage in Palm Beach, Florida, after winning three state primaries Tuesday, Republican front-runner Donald Trump once again boasted that he had united the party.
"We have something happening that makes the Republican party probably the biggest political story in the world," the billionaire said, noting he had seen huge lines Tuesday outside polling centers. "Millions of people are coming into vote ... Democrats are coming in, independents are coming in, and — very, very important — people who have never voted before. It's an incredible thing."
Trump has bragged for weeks that he is expanding the Republican party, adding "millions and millions" of voters and insisting that Latino and African-American people "love" him. But the vast majority of his supporters are white men — at a time when the number and influence of diverse voters is growing. Even if Trump's presumptive rival, Hillary Clinton, doesn’t appeal to minorities or young voters as much as Barack Obama did in 2008 and 2012, Trump probably can't win with white voters alone this November.
Trump has bragged for weeks that he is expanding the Republican party, adding "millions and millions" of voters and insisting that Latino and African-American people "love" him. But the vast majority of his supporters are white men — at a time when the number and influence of diverse voters is growing. Even if Trump's presumptive rival, Hillary Clinton, doesn’t appeal to minorities or young voters as much as Barack Obama did in 2008 and 2012, Trump probably can't win with white voters alone this November.
Here’s what we know: The number of people casting ballots for Trump is higher than the number of people who cast ballots for 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, according to International Business Times calculations. Through Super Tuesday, Trump had about 3.37 million total votes. Romney, at this point, had 3.28 million — even though seven more states had voted.
We also know that more Republicans have turned out to vote in state primaries than usual.Pew Research Center reported that through the first 12 primaries, GOP turnout had included 17.3 percent of eligible voters. In 2012, it was 9.8 percent. Meanwhile, Democratic turnout this year was 11.7 percent, up from 2012 but down from 2008.
What we don't know is how Trump's coalition of white men will play eight months from now. "There's only so many of them," said Adrian Gray, a strategist who used to work for the Republican National Committee.
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