Insiders to Trump: No Majority, No Nomination

Republicans say it's 1,237 delegates or bust for Donald Trump.
By STEVEN SHEPARD
Politico
Mar. 26, 2016

A majority of Republican insiders say Donald Trump should not get the GOP presidential nomination if he falls short of winning a majority of delegates — even if Trump amasses more than any of his opponents.

That’s according to The POLITICO Caucus — a panel of strategists, activists and operatives in seven key swing states. Roughly 6-in-10 Republicans said the party should nominate another candidate if Trump finishes with a plurality, rather than the required 1,237-delegate majority necessary to claim the party nomination.

“Rules is rules. You have to get a majority,” said a Virginia Republican who, like all respondents, completed the survey anonymously. “That's the problem with our country: No one ever wins anymore.”

The question is central to the GOP calculus before the Cleveland convention: Should the party award the nomination to the candidate who won the most delegates in total — as Trump himself has advocated — or stick to the rule that a candidate must win at least 1,237 delegates to be the nominee?

The majority of insiders who want the party to choose someone else if Trump only wins a plurality of delegates said they are motivated by questions of electability, Trump’s capricious campaign style and personality.

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