I ask this because in nationwide polls, he did not achieve 40% until Apr 9th 2012. That was with the establishment coalescing behind him.
My point is that if the candidate is not acceptable to the establishment, re: status quo, then we will always be headed for a brokered convention wherein an "acceptable" candidate will prevail.
Did Romney have difficulty winning a majority of delegates? I don’t remember such.
It’s not “the Establishment” that is voting for Cruz and Kasich when Trump has such a lead already. It is something palpable. People don’t want him.
He’s leading a hostile takeover. He’s leading a faction that wants to “eviscerate” the party. You can’t compare the reaction to him to the reaction to any conventional politician.
He wanted to be the outsider. When you go after the king, make sure you get the kill. If he doesn’t win a majority of delegates through the primaries, he will have faiiled in his takeover attempt.
Maybe a more palatable person would have succeeded. It’s hard to think of a person less suited then him.