NEW YORK – Donald Trump supporters are excited this morning, as their guy swept the Republican delegate count in that all-important populated state of New York Tuesday. Democrats rallied around former First Lady Hillary Clinton in their presidential primary.
Most certainly New York voter turnouts were high, as both parties are going through competitive primaries and for the first time in many elections, New York's opinion mattered. The nominees have yet to acquire the needed delegate numbers to win their parties' highest prize.
But exactly how many Republican voters were there in New York? And how likely would it be for a Republican to win in New York in November?
And for that matter, how did their turnout compare to Illinois'?
According to the New York Times, even with the high turnout, there were three Democrat voters for every one Republican in New York State. With 98% of the vote in, 857,250 Republicans voted Tuesday along with 1,790,083 Democrats.
With all the media attention, of the over 2,600,000 New Yorkers that went to the polls, 518,601 voted for Donald Trump and 1,037,344 voted for Clinton.
In order to win in November, votes from other states – especially the southern conservative Bible belt and the western independents that shun "New York values" that Trump extols – are the only way a Republican could win the White House.
How does New York's numbers compare to Illinois? Couldn't Donald Trump win big here?
Illinois – which has a smaller population than New York – had 1,434,006 Republicans vote on March 15th. Of those, 556,000 voted for Donald Trump.
In the Democratic primary, 2,015,647 participated, with 1,017,006 voting for Hillary Clinton.
Altogether, 3,449,653 voters participated in the Illinois primary. Nearly 1 million more than in New York:
Graphics from the New York Times
Interesting, but New York has a closed primary system whereas Illinois is an open primary state.
Donald Trump is now a virtual certainty to lock up the GOP Presidential nomination. And that is a good thing for the milquetoast Illinois Republicans, because if the GOP establishment had succeeded in blocking Trump and thwarting the will of Republican voters, people like Peter Roskam and Randy Hultgren – and many other Republicans downticket – would likely have lost their seats – as Trump voters boycotted the GOP in droves.
Yep!
And regardless of what the establishment’s chattering class would have us believe, Mr Trump holds much sway going forward.
Get used to it you Trump hating peckerwoods, us Trump voters have you by the balls.
And we will not be letting go anytime soon.
Like it or not, you WILL be required to consider America first.
When Trump loses 40 states and the Democrats win both Houses of Congress, will any of the Trump enthusiasts admit they were mistaken? I doubt it.
But maybe Trump could win. I’d rather see Trump than Clinton (just as I’d rather have a kneecap broken than be shot through the head). Then what?
Trump is being advised by Chris Christie, who has appointed several liberal Democrats to the Supreme Court of New Jersey. So when Trump shows “statesmanship” and “bridge-building” by renewing Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, will the Trump enthusiasts admit they were mistaken?
(If Trump wins, and governs as an effective conservative, I will be delighted to admit I was mistaken. I will even state that this is possible. But I wouldn’t bet on it.)