Posted on 03/15/2016 1:36:23 AM PDT by Cincinatus
Wyoming voters have sent a clear message to the GOP: The Equality State isn’t getting on the Trump Train.
Voters, apparently unimpressed with the front-runner, almost shut him out completely at their Republican county convention on Saturday, giving him barely 7 percent of the vote.
Precinct caucuses were held March 1, and under half of the state’s 29 delegates were up for grabs on Saturday — the rest will be doled out during Wyoming’s state convention in mid April — but Ted Cruz swept up three quarters of them, taking nine of the available twelve. Trump, who has won eleven primary states, was awarded just one and received only 70 of 971 votes — a laughably poor haul for the Republican front-runner.
Losing Wyoming may not affect his momentum in the primary, but Trump barely beat out “uncommitted” in a red state full of white middle-class Evangelicals, his prime demographic.
If Wyoming held more sway in the primary, a loss like this might prompt pundits and campaign consultants to ask why Wyoming Republicans voted differently from the majority of their peers in eleven other states, but with only 29 delegates on the line, the anomaly of the Wyoming convention is likely to be passed over with little scrutiny.
But what makes Wyomingites distinct from Trump’s usual supporters is important: They’re truly conservative.
According to a 2014 Gallup poll, Wyoming is the most conservative state in the U.S. Trump’s “bigger, better, gold-plated government” message doesn’t exactly speak to the hearts and minds of libertarian-leaning conservatives who would prefer that the government pave their roads and stay out of their personal lives. In a state that’s 91 percent rural, debatable success in Manhattan’s real-estate market means little, and it certainly doesn’t prove you have the chops to run a country. Trump’s big-government fantasies likely don’t resonate with Wyoming’s ranchers, hunters, and small-business owners who are lifelong, red-blooded, free-market Republicans, and Saturday’s results proved they aren’t buying Trump’s recent conversion to the Right.
The distaste for Trump in Wyoming likely goes beyond policy. Wyomingites aren’t exactly sitting at home watching reruns of The Apprentice and wishing they could shake the spray-tanned hands of the man responsible for it. Trump’s penchant for peddling steak, vodka, and bottled water just exaggerates the distance he’s removed from the lives of average voters in the Equality State. Wyomingites don’t buy steaks from the Sharper Image; they raise them. Trump’s thin-skinned bravado and proclivity to scream “lawsuit” at every offense probably didn’t earn him any favorability points in a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps state where “rub some dirt on it” might as well be stitched into the state flag.
It seems Wyoming voters aren’t jumping on the “burn it down” bandwagon. If they’re spitting-mad at the GOP, they’re proving it by throwing their weight behind a proven constitutionalist instead of a lifelong Democrat. Wyoming voters took a stand for conservatism on Saturday. There’s plenty of room beside them for Florida and Ohio voters on March 15.
Thank you. Trying to be humorous this early in the morning never works. But, your post is exactly correct.
Like him or loathe him, Cheney had gravitas many candidates could only envy.
He was a man you wished were on your side, even when he wasn’t.
When he was, it was a pleasure to watch him operate.
He gave up a very lucrative position worth tens of millions per year to play second fiddle to Bush.
When you watched them play, you often realized Cheney was the only one making music.
Wyoming Politburo says nyet
Yep, Cheney and Cheney’s two daughters. Wyoming also had Simpson. It’s a crooked state.
There is less than 1,000,000 people that live in the ENTIRE STATE. Yet you want this to be national news????
Population 586k. There are single counties in MD & VA with more people.
Well, Wyoming is off my bucket list.
Precinct caucuses were ...
Any REAL 'voters' here?
Is it a CAUCUS or a PRIMARY?
CaChing!
Natrona County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2010 census, the population was 75,450, making it the second-most populous county in Wyoming. Its county seat is Casper.
Party rules grant Wyoming bonus delegates for having Republicans in the governor's office and Congress and GOP majorities in the state Legislature.
Though no formal tally of who likes which candidate occurs at the caucuses — forbidden under national Republican rules — the gatherings play an important role in the presidential race in Wyoming because they determine who goes to the county conventions.
Precinct caucuses involve lively debating over presidential candidates.
Participants in Wyoming's final series of Republican precinct caucuses ...
Wyoming Republican Party fundraising event...
Republican precinct caucuses...
Several caucus-goers said
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ... supporter Robin Goodspeed said
Republican Gov. Matt Mead
Fremont County GOP Chairman Richard Gard
state Republican Chairman Matt Micheli
“Population 586k.”
SoCal has more illegal aliens than Wyoming has people.
Thanks - I thought it odd but all the recent stories just showed the low number - I read FR most days, but only for a finite time in the early morning hours - if I miss it here and it isn’t displayed somewhere when I’m there, then I miss it..
Neat! I’ve been corrected by another who said that there were earlier votes with massive turnout and the voting I referred to was a lesser thing - he’s the only one to correct me and I hope he’s right. I hate being wrong, but you’d think a mortal such as I would eventually get used to it....
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