Conservatives do this. Just hang around here during the GOP primaries and watch us destroy the more conservative candidates while the establishment moderate pulls ahead of them all. It’s a bloodbath. It’s not enough to support your candidate - we have to destroy the other conservatives. I don’t think conservatives rally around the next guy like the left does either.
This is guesswork, but at the outset let’s assume there are 6 viable candidates and 4 of them are conservative. Not one conservative will hold more than 20% support while one of the two moderates will never fall below 30-40% support. The other moderate is normally a throw-away and any support he has always goes to the other moderate when he/she drops out. This is not always true for supporters of a conservative. The math is hard to beat - especially when you watch the conservatives attack one another while milquetoast stays above the fray with the support of the MSM.
My numbers are pure guesses based on past performances, but this reflects the reality of the McCain and Romney nominations. We will likely see it again because the left supports it wholeheartedly.
The 2012 Republican debates were a complete fiasco. As one candidate diminished, another took his place — until that one got drummed out.
None of them were what would be considered top quality.
At various points, about 6 different individuals were considered the ‘frontrunner’ for a few weeks, at most. It was a disastrous lineup from the start and it finished with Romney.
2008 wasn’t much better with McCain.
Half of those claiming to be conservatives in 2012 were far from it, in reality.
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Maybe, the new primaries schedule will improve things.
In 2008 and 2012, my state primary was so late in the spring that it didn’t matter who we supported. The nominee was already determined weeks before.
Conservatives are not very bright.