DENVER (AP) – Should he win the Republican nomination, Donald Trump’s most plausible path to victory in the general election would be a GOP map unlike any in years. He’d be relying on working class, largely white voters in states that have long been Democratic bastions in presidential contests, from Maine to Pennsylvania to Michigan.
To make that work he’d have to thread a narrow needle – not only holding on to those core supporters but also softening rhetoric that has alienated black and Latino voters and calming those in the GOP who vow to never vote for him.
It could be tricky, but the past eight months have taught political professionals in both parties not to underestimate the man.
“He attracts a different kind of voter,” said GOP pollster Frank Luntz. “It’s a completely different equation.”
Trump has signaled he’s already thinking about the general election, bragging that “we’ve actually expanded the Republican Party” and slamming Hillary Clinton as part of the political establishment that’s to blame for the sour economy.