With Haley out, I won’t vote in November
After a resounding series of losses on Super Tuesday, Nikki Haley announced she was suspending her campaign for president, locking in the Donald Trump versus Joe Biden rematch that America was dreading.
Despite surprisingly winning both Washington, D.C., and Vermont, Haley’s deficit of delegates against Trump was too much to overcome in the race for the GOP nomination.
Republican primary voters were too consumed by the promise of what they would call the glory years of Trump’s presidency returning to truly evaluate Haley’s campaign for what it was: our best chance at denying a second Biden term and retaking the White House.
The fact that Trump was able to win the GOP nomination while under four criminal indictments, refusing to step on a debate stage and still refusing to concede his last election serves as a testament to how strong his grip on the party base is.
Unfortunately for the countless principled Republicans like myself, we cannot justify a vote for Trump, no matter how bad a Biden presidency has been. I find myself now in the middle of two candidates I view as severely damaging to the future of our country.
There is no doubt that Haley was better poised to win in a general election against Biden than Trump is. A poll released last month showed her beating Biden in a head-to-head election.
Haley also is far more palatable to centrists than both Trump and Biden and was even capable of capturing a significant portion of voters who favor Biden over Trump.
Republicans would rather lose elections than abandon Trump
Haley was not my first choice for president, but she was far from my last. I certainly prefer her to Trump as the Republican nominee, and it’s frustrating that the GOP base is entirely unconcerned with electability when selecting their candidate of choice.
However, what has become abundantly clear this time around is that a significant portion of Republican voters would rather lose elections than abandon Trump, and that is a pill the anti-Trump conservatives have to swallow.
Republicans are losing young voters. Trump won’t help that.
For young conservatives like me, the only choice we’ve known for president is Trump. While a majority of Gen Z Republicans support the former president, the GOP has a major numbers problem when it comes to my generation, spanning from 1997 to 2012.
Polling suggests that only 21% of Gen Z identifies as Republican compared with 36% as Democrat. The 30% of Gen Z who identifies as independent is unlikely to support Trump in large numbers come November, but Haley’s support among independents could have unlocked a new source of votes for the GOP. Even if Trump loses this year, which is a strong possibility, the loyalty expressed in this cycle gives me no reason to think we won’t see a repeat in 2028 and beyond. I honestly don’t know what will break through to those who support Trump anymore. The only way to be rid of Trump at this point might be for him to win an election and be precluded from running for a third term.
Until then, it seems the GOP is stuck with Trump as our perpetual nominee. Instead of winning elections, the GOP is relying on Democrats to lose them. Instead of appealing to new voters, the GOP will rely on the same base it always has. If neither party will give us candidates worth voting for, I simply won’t.