Over on AlterNet, Steven Rosenfeld has published an article asking the question whether the ascendancy of Trump will force Republican moderates to flee their party.
The article is based on research done by Democracy Corps which slices and dices the different subdivisions of the Republican party and finds that an astonishing 46% of the party, either the 14% of Catholics who are socially conservative but open to the Pope’s pronouncements on such things as climate change and economic justice, and the moderates (31%) who may agree on certain issues like the need for immigration reform, are potentially ready to defect if Donald Trump becomes their candidate.
In short, they could end up voting for a Democratic presidential candidate because they already are persuaded that Trump is an egomaniac, cannot be trusted on national security and is deeply misogynist, anti-immigrant and a climate change denier. Those conclusions, coupled with a Democratic nominee who embraces their concerns, especially long-term infrastructure investment, meaningful corporate governance and ending the culture wars, could “dislodge” the GOP moderates, Democracy Corps writes.
In view of one of those tempests that arose a few weeks ago when Bernie Sanders announced that he was intending to pursue Republican voters, even Trump voters, whose concerns he is actively embracing.
There are many people who have intuited that this might be the case, and here we finally have some polling evidence that shows that as much as 15% of the Republican faithful may be moved to vote for a Democratic candidate.
I don’t see how that candidate could be Hillary.
I did not see this article or poll being discussed anywhere on DKos, so I have posted the link.