Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump models a coal miner’s helmet during his rally in Charleston, West Virginia, on May 5, 2016. (Photo: Mark Lyons/Getty Images)
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has won overwhelmingly victories in the West Virginia and Nebraska Republican primaries. Even though Mr. Trump was essentially running unopposed since his two rivals–Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich–dropped out of the race, his win is still significant.
Exit polls show Mr. Trump would take 33% of Democratic primary voters who voted in their own primary today in the general election matchup against Hillary Clinton. He takes nearly half the supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, something he claimed he could do but the media chastised him for suggesting.
They were wrong. A whopping 67% of Republicans said trade takes from U.S. jobs, a number that is even higher among Sanders supporters.
Thank you West Virginia!#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016 pic.twitter.com/iCGcF21fWY
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2016
As PPD previously reported, numbers in the Mountain State show a record turnout in both the early vote and Election Day voting. The Charleston County Clerk’s Office said they had already far surpassed the previous record on Monday for the early vote and traffic at polling stations has been heavy and steady.
Thank you Nebraska!#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016 pic.twitter.com/RRma61oisz
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2016
According to officials, there were 100,962 early voting ballots and 5,252 absentee ballots received by Monday for a total 106,214 early votes. In 2008, they had less than 66,000 early ballots. Registration by party, officials say, can confuse just who exactly is heading to the polls. Traditional registered Democrats are flocking to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who won endorsements from coal mining groups that have back Democrats in all of the last six elections.
“People just like his no-nonsense, take-the-gloves-off attitude,” Chris Hamilton, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association said. Mr. Hamilton’s group represents 95% of the state’s coal production. The trade group officially endorsed Mr. Trump earlier this week and Mr. Hamilton handed him a white miners’s helmet onstage at the Charleston rally on May 5 (see below).
Nine in 10 Republican primary voters in West Virginia and more than eight in 10 in Nebraska, which also votes on Tuesday, said it’s likely Mr. Trump will beat Mrs. Clinton in November. That’s far higher than measured among West Virginia Democratic primary voters about Mrs. Clinton beating Mr. Trump.
