On the eve of the start of the Republican Party nominating convention, CBS Sunday Morning aired results of a CBS News survey of expected viewership of the GOP and Democratic Party get-togethers.
Less than half of those sampled said they would watch the conventions. For the Republicans, 48% planned to tune in; 49% said they wouldn’t bother. The numbers were worse for Democrats and their convention—45% yes, 53% no.
No doubt the percentages are a reflection of dissatisfaction with both parties’ presumptive nominees, as well as voter fatigue for the drawn out process that has brought us to the cusp of nomination.
The challenge for both parties is to sustain, even elevate, interest in their candidates. Trump has a built-in excitement factor. You never know what he will say. Aiding his campaign is the intense dislike Republicans and some Independents as well as Bernie Democrats have for Hillary Clinton.
Clinton must work doubly hard to overcome the fatigue factor. Her choice of a running mate must demonstrate a break with the past business-as-usual attitude many feel permeates her campaign.
Based on the projected viewership, it can be expected that just loyalists of both parties will follow the proceedings, so a post-convention bump in the polls should not be that dramatic, if at all. What may be a determining event for the election is the series of debates Trump and Clinton agree to.
How Trump confronts her face-to-face, and how he defends his often contradictory positions and lack of program specificity, may sway undecided voters. When she first ran in 2000 for the Senate from New York, and won, Clinton benefitted from an overly aggressive Congressman Rick A. Lazio who invaded her space during one of their debates. Trump has shown no mercy attacking his opponents during GOP primary debates. But denigrating Clinton in an undiplomatic, ungentlemanly manner during their one-on-one debates might cause some voters to be more sympathetic to her.
Rushing to Trump’s Defense: Have you seen the Internet posting of a quote Donald Trump is alleged to have said to People magazine in 1998?:
“If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. Thy believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.”
Sounds sooooo Trumpish. Were it only true. According to snopes.com, it’s a fabrication. So don’t get caught up in reposting it. Trump has said enough disingenuous things and outright lies this campaign that nobody should have to pass along falsehoods about him.
